The figures of the war in Ukraine, three weeks after the start of the invasion

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MADRID, March 17. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The invasion of Ukraine ordered on March 24 by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has led to a human crisis of as yet unknown proportions but which already leaves unprecedented recent data, such as the exodus of more than three million people and the devastation urban areas with presence of civilian population.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has already confirmed some 1,900 civilian victims since the conflict broke out, of which more than 700 are dead. However, he assumes that the real data will be higher, to the extent that it takes time to verify data and there are areas like Mariúpol that are an informational black hole resulting from the Russian siege.

The local authorities of this enclave on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov have reported that more than 2,000 people have died in Mariupol alone and the Government of Ukraine estimates that more than a hundred children have already died throughout the country. What all observers do agree on is that civilians are suffering the consequences of the conflict in the first person.

In fact, more than 3.1 million people have left Ukraine in these two weeks, with some two million refugees in Poland. Romania has around 500,000 arrivals, while Moldova has received 350,000 people, Hungary 282,000 and Slovakia 228,000, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which updates the data daily.

The United Nations had already anticipated shortly after the start of the Russian offensive that there could be between four and five million refugees and, at this point, few doubt that this figure will be reached, given that the fighting shows no sign of ceasing. In addition, 1.9 million people are internally displaced, that is, they have left their homes but remain inside Ukraine.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that, as a result of the conflict, up to 90 percent of the Ukrainian population may suffer from poverty or extreme economic vulnerability. The Government of Ukraine has estimated the losses resulting from the conflict at more than 500,000 million euros, although this figure is also provisional and is expected to grow.

The UN humanitarian response plan for 2022, updated after the start of the invasion, estimates that in 2022 there will be 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. It claims 1,100 million dollars to help six million people and of these funds it has already received around 22 percent, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

ATTACKS ON CIVILIAN TARGETS

The bombing on Wednesday of a Mariupol theater where civilians were taking refuge is one of the latest examples of the extent to which there are no safe buildings in Ukraine, despite the fact that International Law provides specific protection for the population and civilian infrastructure. The Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of perpetrating war crimes and the prosecution of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened an investigation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed attacks against more than 40 health infrastructures and has warned that there are more than 300 in the combat front or in areas that Russia now controls, while another 600 are less than 10 kilometers from the clashes.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian Ministry of Education has reported that some 350 educational centers have been damaged and more than 60 have been completely destroyed.

Burning houses in a residential area west of Chernigov on March 16, 2022.
Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies