Political

1000 days of war that changed Ukraine and the world: facts and figures

Today, November 19, 2024, exactly 1,000 days have passed since the beginning of the largest war in Europe in recent decades. Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, became a point of no return not only for Ukrainians, but also for the whole world. This war fundamentally changed the geopolitical landscape, economic realities and perceptions of security in the 21st century. But what did those who participated and witnessed these dramatic events lose and gain during this time?

1000 days of struggle and resistance… 1000 days that rethought the value of freedom and human dignity. This sad anniversary forces us to look back in order to analyze how Ukraine, its people and the world around have changed, and to answer the main question: has humanity become more ready for the challenges that history so mercilessly throws?

How the largest war in Europe of the 21st century began

On February 24, 2022, what has already gone down in history as the most brutal war in Europe since the end of World War II began. This day became the point of no return for Ukraine, Russia and the world. Loud explosions that thundered in the peaceful cities of Ukraine that morning changed not only the fate of millions of people, but also the established order in international relations. They were harbingers of mass murders, destruction, crimes against humanity, which in the Russian Federation are called “special military operations”.

Ukrainians will remember for the rest of their lives the morning of February 24, 2022, when, after Vladimir Putin’s night announcement about the start of the so-called “special military operation”, the country’s peaceful cities were hit by aerial bombs and shells for the first time. It was then that the Kremlin announced the goals of this war — the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine. From the first hours of the invasion, it became clear that this is not a local conflict, but an attempt to completely disrupt the European order. The Kremlin was counting on lightning success. The tanks were to reach Kyiv in three days, the missiles were to break Ukrainian resistance, and fear was to make the West silent. However, something happened that the Russian leadership did not expect: Ukraine responded. And she answered in such a way that the world admired her resilience.

But in order to understand the scale of this war, it is necessary to remember that it did not begin on February 24. It was just the next, most brutal stage in Russia’s long-term aggression against Ukraine. Its origins go back to 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and launched a hybrid war in Donbas. Then, in the spring, the world witnessed Russian troops without identification marks occupying the peninsula, and Russian special services and mercenaries like Girkin fanning the flames of conflict in eastern Ukraine.

By 2022, Russia managed to turn the occupied territories of Donbas into a springboard for further offensive. But even this does not explain why the invasion happened at that time. Everything began to be prepared much earlier, since 2014, and in 2021, Moscow began an unprecedented build-up of military forces on the borders of Ukraine. The last chords before the invasion were Russia’s recognition of the pseudo-republics “DPR” and “LPR” and their “friendship” with Moscow. It was an open preparation for a great war.

When the first rockets hit Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and the Dnipro, no one in Ukraine could believe that a war of this scale was possible in the modern world. People woke up to air raid sirens, packed up and fled the cities. Someone hid in bomb shelters and basements, someone immediately joined the ranks of the Terrodefense and voluntarily went to fight. Ukrainian men and women, leaving their ordinary lives, took up arms to protect their loved ones and their land. The world was also shocked: Russia’s invasion canceled all agreements, the foundations of international law and the belief that new global wars are impossible.

In a thousand days, the war not only burned thousands of Ukrainian towns and villages, but also destroyed the myth of the “invincibility” of the Russian army. The Kremlin received sanctions, isolation, a ruined economy and the status of an “international pariah”. The West, which initially reacted cautiously to aggression, gradually began arming Ukraine, introducing new restrictions against Russia and strengthening defense lines. Russia’s war against Ukraine has changed the rules of the game, turning former agreements into empty sound.

It is not for nothing that yesterday, November 18, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield harshly reminded the world of a moment that went down in history as an example of outright deception: exactly 1,001 days ago, a representative of Russia assured that an invasion of Ukraine would never happen. However, an audacious attack on February 24, 2022 canceled these promises. In her speech, she characterized Russia as a “rogue country” that destroyed self-confidence in the international arena.

On the eve of the big war, in 2021, Russia issued an ultimatum to the USA and NATO, demanding “security guarantees”. Among them are the halting of NATO’s expansion to the east, the refusal of cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia, as well as the withdrawal of NATO troops from the countries that joined the Alliance after 1997. However, these demands rather resembled a desperate attempt to return the world to the realities of the Cold War.

After 1,000 days of war, Ukraine proved its endurance and indomitability, showing that even in the most difficult circumstances, the spirit of freedom is stronger than missiles and tanks. The war, which the Kremlin launched under the pretext of “demilitarization and denazification”, has turned into a challenge for the whole world, becoming a test of strength for international diplomacy and security.

Comparing the conflict in Ukraine with other wars, for example, the Second World War, emphasizes how important strategic decisions and the unity of society are. The endurance and determination of Ukrainians demonstrate that even 1,000 days of brutal war cannot break a nation fighting for freedom.

Meanwhile, Russia, which dreamed of dictating its terms to the world, found itself in isolation, losing partners and reputation against the background of destroyed Ukrainian cities and thousands of human victims.

1000 days of war: shocking facts and figures

On November 19, 2024, the 1000th day of this war, we turn again to the numbers that scream. Behind them are human destinies, ruined lives, tragedies of the whole country. But behind every figure stands the strength of Ukrainians who did not surrender to the enemy.

By February 24, 2022, Russia has already seized 7.28% of the territory of Ukraine — Crimea and part of Donbas. With the beginning of the full-scale war, the Russian Federation seized another 11.12% of our land. Currently, 18.4% of the territory of Ukraine is under temporary occupation: this is Crimea, part of Donbas, as well as the territories of Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. This is almost a fifth of our country.

Russia not only seized our territories, but also replaced them. More than 144 thousand square kilometers of land are now potentially dangerous. This is a space that can explode at any moment, making the liberation of these territories a difficult and painful process. Complete demining of this land will cost Ukraine $35 billion, it will last ten years, but the real price of these mines is human lives.

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As of January 2022, the population of Ukraine was 42 million people. Today, this figure has decreased to more than 31 million, because more than 10 million Ukrainians have left the country, fleeing the war. Of them, 4 million found temporary shelter in EU countries, the largest number — in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Another 1.2 million people fled to Russia, and about 46 thousand to Belarus.

At the same time, 4.6 million people became internally displaced persons. These are women, men, children who were forced to leave their homes. Almost 906,000 children are among the displaced. This generation grew up to the sounds of sirens, in ruins, without quality education and in constant uncertainty.

According to the UN, as of the beginning of November 2024, 12,162 civilians were killed in the war, and another 26,919 were wounded. These figures include 591 dead children and 1,695 injured children. But this is only what was recorded. Actual losses may be much higher.

A separate pain is the 19,546 Ukrainian children who were forcibly relocated or deported to Russia. To date, only 388 have been returned. Each deported child is a crime that does not have a statute of limitations, a crime that destroys not only childhood, but also the future. However, for the children who remained in Ukraine, reality has not become safe either. They are forced to live in the conditions of war, to adapt to a new reality, where one cannot be sure that a school or a hospital will not become the next target of shelling.

According to Western intelligence estimates, the total losses among the military of Ukraine and Russia exceeded one million people, of which about 200,000 were killed and 400,000 were wounded in the Russian army. Ukrainian losses, according to unofficial estimates, include 80,000 dead and 400,000 wounded, but these figures remain under the protection of the law. At the same time, our heroes who fight for every meter of Ukrainian land continue to die on the battlefield every day.

During the thousand days of full-scale war, there were 58 exchanges of prisoners. In total, 3,767 Ukrainians were returned from Russian captivity – that’s thousands of lives torn from torture, hunger and humiliation. But not everyone waited to return home: at least 177 Ukrainian soldiers died in captivity, having been tortured or simply being abandoned to their own devices. For those who remained in Russian prisons, every day is a struggle for survival. Each exchange is a huge pressure, months of negotiations, sometimes diplomatic intrigues and silent compromises. But Ukraine continues to fight for every person to the last.

Over 250,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged during the 1,000 days of the war. These are schools, hospitals, kindergartens, homes. Russian missiles do not spare anything. 1,911 medical institutions and 3,798 educational institutions, including 1,300 kindergartens, fell victim to shelling. In addition, 2093 cultural objects were destroyed or damaged, 630 religious buildings were turned into ruins. Every destroyed building is a story about a life that was destroyed by war.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only human tragedies and destruction of infrastructure, but a war against nature. It destroys forests, kills animals, poisons water and air. 79,000 hectares of forests, 9.7 million trees, and 75,000 animals were destroyed. Total environmental damage is estimated at $62.9 billion. This is a large-scale environmental disaster that will change the face of Ukraine for decades to come.

In addition, the death of 75 thousand animals is not just a number, but ecosystems that have lost their balance. These are red book species that could live and reproduce, but became victims of war. The cost of damage to rare plants and animals is estimated at $14.5 billion. But the real price of this loss is much higher, because these are non-renewable resources of nature.

175 million tons of greenhouse gases have been released into the atmosphere because of the war. This is a level that exceeds the annual emissions of such countries as Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Bulgaria combined. Every explosion, every rocket leaves its mark in the air, which now carries not only the smoke of war, but also a threat to the health of future generations.

68.8 thousand tons of pollutants entered the water. At the same time, the war brought 37,300 tons of extraneous objects to the reservoirs — fragments of destroyed equipment, construction materials, explosive remnants. The explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam caused particular damage to the environment, when a huge amount of dangerous substances got into the river ecosystems, poisoning the rivers and destroying the life that depends on them.

1.4 million tons of waste from destroyed Russian equipment remained on Ukrainian soil. These ruins are silent witnesses of battles, but their presence is dangerous for nature and people. Fragments of armor, steel, rubber and fuel seep into the soil, leaving behind a poisoned earth that takes decades to clean up.

War destroys not only people and buildings, but also economies. According to estimates by the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine’s indirect losses from Russian aggression amount to $1.164 trillion. This is twice as much as the country’s GDP for 2021.

The productive sectors of the economy suffered the greatest losses:

  • Trade — $450.5 billion,
  • Industry, construction and services — $410 billion,
  • Agriculture — $83.1 billion.

All this will require multibillion-dollar investments, but the true cost of war is lost lives and mutilated destinies.

Energy lost $43.1 billion, transport — $38.8 billion. At the same time, the cost of demining mined areas is $42 billion, and the restoration of the housing sector needs $22 billion. War not only destroys, but also makes you pay a huge price for every day of recovery.

A thousand days of war means not only destroyed houses, but also destroyed families. Millions of Ukrainians were forced to separate from loved ones due to hostilities, occupation, emigration or loss of homes. These are parents who sent their children to safer countries, but stayed at home themselves. These are families who lost contact due to the occupation. These are the children who heard a parent’s voice for the first time after years of separation during a prisoner exchange. According to sociological studies, 31% of Ukrainians have experienced the loss of loved ones. Almost half of them were witnesses or victims of shelling. It is an experience that will not disappear even after the end of the war, because such wounds remain forever.

During the thousand days of the war, Ukraine lived in a constant state of anticipation of danger. The sirens sounded 50,523 times—almost every hour, day and night—as a reminder that peace is no longer the norm. The average duration of an air alert was 1 hour 20 minutes. But there were also days, they lasted more than two days. In July 2024, the Kharkiv region experienced the longest alarm: 50 hours and 31 minutes of continuous waiting for explosions. Every anxiety is broken everyday affairs, sleeping in cold shelters, waiting for it to pass this time. But it is also the sound of the struggle for survival, a symbol of Ukrainians holding on despite everything.

In addition, the psychological state of Ukrainians is under constant pressure. According to the sociological service “Rating”, two thirds of the population experienced separation from loved ones, 6% of Ukrainians are in a state of excessive stress. The main reason for this is not only the war, but also the uncertainty that continues day after day. Children who grew up during these thousand days had time to get used to sirens, shelters and shelling. They do not dream of gifts, but of a quiet day when there will be no anxiety. They draw tanks, rockets and destroyed houses. They grow up too fast, carrying trauma that will take years of therapy to even partially heal.

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Psychological rehabilitation of Ukrainians will be one of the biggest challenges after the end of the war. Soldiers who will return from the front, women who have lost their husbands, children who have grown up under the explosions – each of them will need support. Ukraine is already starting programs of psychological assistance, but the scale of this work is huge. War leaves wounds not only on the body, but also on the soul, and they take the longest to heal.

Internal and external support of Ukraine

Despite numerous losses among the military and civilians, Ukrainian society mobilized in an unprecedented force. Millions of people support the front through volunteer funds, collect money for drones and body armor, give their last to provide the army with everything it needs. But at the same time, the support of allies from around the world became a real factor in the country’s stability.

Ukrainian volunteers have become a symbol of indomitability. These are those who buy thermal imaging cameras, drones and body armor at their own expense. They collect funds at night through social networks, repair broken cars to send them to the front, or deliver humanitarian aid to the hottest spots. This movement started back in 2014, but with the start of a full-scale invasion, it has become larger than ever before. Volunteers replaced state structures where they did not have time. They became a bridge between the rear and the front, providing the army with what was missing. At the same time, each donation is a personal story: from a child who gave pocket money to a pensioner who donated his last savings.

People unite in flash mobs, sell their paintings, bake pies or organize marathons. Their energy seems inexhaustible. They become the architects of victory, because every purchased drone or car at the front is a saved life.

Ukrainians proved that real power is not only in weapons, but also in the people who stand behind them. Volunteerism has become not just a movement, but a new culture. This is more than help, it is a way of fighting, a way of saying to the enemy: “We will not give up.” These men are changing the war every day, showing that steadfastness is about actions, not words.

While Russian missiles and drones destroy Ukrainian cities every day, except for volunteers, almost the whole world is helping Ukraine not only to survive, but also to fight. Thanks to the large-scale support that comes from Western countries, Ukraine not only restrains the enemy, but also returns the occupied territories, restores the destroyed infrastructure and prepares the ground for victory.

By the end of the summer of 2024, Ukraine received astronomical amounts of aid from international partners:

  • European countries provided €118.3 billion and promised another €74.1 billion.
  • The United States provided €84.7 billion in support, with an additional €15.43 billion pledged.

Some states have made excessive efforts when comparing aid with their own resources. Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands are among those providing the most support relative to their GDP.

The United States leads the supply of most types of weapons to Ukraine, providing a critical need for modern equipment. Thanks to this help, the Ukrainian army received advanced models of weapons, which it did not have before the beginning of the war. Air defense systems, which have become a key shield over Ukrainian skies, were mostly provided by Germany. Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark were the main suppliers of tanks, which became decisive on the front.

So, what Russia called “demilitarization” of Ukraine turned into its defeat: the Ukrainian military has now become much more experienced, our army has come closer to NATO standards, our military is trained in Western training centers, and their equipment meets the best world standards.

In addition, Putin’s attempts to push NATO away from its borders resulted in the Alliance gaining two new members — Sweden and Finland. The irony is merciless: instead of weakening NATO, Russia itself has created even more reasons for its strengthening.

It should be noted that every day the war kills more than 700 Russian citizens, it destroys not only Ukrainian cities, but also Russia itself, devouring its human, economic and moral resources. At the same time, this process does not stop. Missiles continue to fly, bodies return in zinc coffins. However, the most shocking thing is not only that Russia puts its citizens on the altar of aggression day after day, but also that the majority of the population continues to support it. According to the Levada Center, in 2024, 77% of Russians approve of a war against Ukraine. That is, the absolute majority, despite the loss and isolation, not only agrees with the killings and destruction, but also approves of them.

Prospects of ending the war

The war between Russia and Ukraine not only divided the two nations, but also radically affected the entire world order. The issue of its completion now remains central both for Ukraine and the global community. It changed the global geopolitical landscape. World alliances gained new strength: NATO expanded, the European Union demonstrated unprecedented unity, and countries that previously held a neutral position chose Ukraine’s side. At the same time, Russia is seeking support from countries that are not its traditional allies, such as Iran or North Korea, in an effort to stay in the geopolitical game.

The war became a difficult test for the Ukrainian economy. Destroyed cities, mined fields, closed enterprises — all this led to a significant reduction in economic activity. Unemployment and inflation became the norm, and defense spending rose to unprecedented proportions, outstripping any social investment. This imbalance not only lowers living standards, but also creates long-term challenges for the country’s post-war recovery. At the same time, Russia is also suffering colossal losses. Sanctions, international isolation and the depletion of military resources are increasingly undermining its economy. The costs of the war exceed the profits, and only further impoverishment is on the horizon.

Ukrainians long for peace, but the prospects for ending the war depend on many factors. On the one hand, diplomatic efforts continue, with international organizations such as the United Nations working on peace proposals and Western countries acting as mediators in negotiations. On the other hand, Russia still shows readiness for escalation, using war as a tool of blackmail. The key issue remains the political will of all parties. Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and territorial integrity, Russia is trying to keep the occupied lands, and the West is trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the Kremlin, while supporting Kyiv.

The political instability caused by the war leaves more questions than answers. Even if the conflict ends, its consequences will remain with Ukraine, Russia and the world for decades. Restoring the economy, overcoming psychological trauma, rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure – all this will be part of the post-war agenda. Is peace possible in the near future? It depends on the willingness of the parties to compromise.

 

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