On February 24, 2022, almost a year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War which began in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea. According to Chief of Ukraine’s Police and Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Klymenko, “as of today, 7,516 peaceful Ukrainians are considered to have been killed as a result.”
Speaking at a joint meeting of the Government of Ukraine and the European Commission, Klymenko noted that “currently, the National Police alone have opened more than 60,000 criminal proceedings on the facts of crimes committed by Russian servicemen on the territory of Ukraine. As of now, 7,516 civilians have been killed, including 459 children.”
11,415 Ukrainian civilians were wounded as of January 22, 2023, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
More than 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed as of December 2, 2022, according to the Guardian, citing the Ukrainian government.
According to Klymenko, more than 152,000 residential buildings, almost 3,200 educational and 1,200 medical institutions, and more than 7,500 critical infrastructure facilities have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine.
He also pointed out that “49 places of incarceration and torture have been identified, where the Russian Federation illegally detained and tortured Ukrainian citizens.”
On the Russian side, 12,538 soldiers were killed (confirmed by names) as of January 27, 2023, according to the BBC.
In the rogue Donetsk People’s Republic, 4,163 were killed, and 17,329 wounded as of December 16, 2022, according to government reports.
In the rouge Luhansk People’s Republic, more than 1,000 were killed as of November 10, 2022, according to BBC News.
The UN claims the war caused the fastest-growing refugee and humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War 2. In the first week of the invasion, the UN reported more than a million refugees had fled Ukraine, a number that rose to more than eight million by January 31, 2023. And, as of May 3, 2022, another eight million are displaced inside Ukraine. Most refugees are women, children, the elderly, and the disabled. Most Ukrainian males aged 18 to 60 were denied exit from their country as part of mandatory military conscription.
Minister Klymenko told the European Commission: “We welcome the adoption of the resolution of the European Parliament on the establishment of a special International Tribunal to investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine.”
He stressed that all the Russian Federation’s war crimes have been carefully documented and will someday become the basis for the work of Ukrainian and international tribunals.
