6 charts showing the devastating impact of the first 6 months of war in Ukraine – BBC News

Lorna Hankin, Data and Visual Journalism TeamsBBC World Service 1 hourImage source Getty ImagesIt has been six months since the war in Ukraine began. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in a television speech a “special military operation” in the Ukrainian region of Donbas. At the same time, the United Nations Security Council asked him to stop. Air raid sirens sounded over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “if anyone tries to take away our land, our freedom, our lives… we will defend ourselves.” It was the moment when the lives of many people they changed forever. On this day of Ukraine’s Independence and with no view of the end of the war, we analyze its impact through six graphs, from the Russian advance to the number of dead and displaced people.1. Pre-invasion Ukraine Before the invasion, pro-Russian separatists controlled significant amounts of territory in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. On February 21, President Putin announced that he recognized the independence of two breakaway regions, self-proclaimed as the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. The move was condemned by Ukraine, NATO and the West and later allowed Putin to move his troops to Ukraine. At this point, Russia had already annexed Crimea in 2014, although most countries recognize this peninsula as part of Ukraine. 2. Ukraine six months later After six months of invasion, Russia has advanced gaining ground in the east. But Moscow has been forced to give up huge tracts of land near Kyiv and other major cities in northern Ukraine that it seized at the start of the conflict. Russian forces now control the entire Luhansk region and continue to make small gains in Donetsk. The city of Kharkiv has been under heavy bombardment for months. The evacuation of Ukrainian troops from Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks in May, after a long and bloody siege, gave Russia a land bridge to Crimea and complete control of the Sea of ​​Azov, seizing the entire southeast coast of Ukraine. Russia maintains military control over Crimea, although in August it was attacked with explosions around the Belbek air base in Sevastopol, used to launch attacks on Ukraine. In the south, Kherson was the first Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces, but Ukraine is now trying to recapture it by using long-range artillery against bridges over the Dnieper River. It is difficult to record the actual number of deaths in any conflict. A BBC analysis via the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a US-based non-profit group, puts the death toll at more than 13,000 since the start of the war. But experts say the total number of recorded deaths is likely underestimated. Ukraine and Russia say the dead number in the tens of thousands, though their claims do not add up and they cannot be independently identified. The United Nations has said that the information offered by those involved in the conflict is not true. 4. Number of displaced At least 12 million people have fled their homes since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine, according to the United Nations. More than five million have fled to neighboring countries, while another seven million are estimated to be displaced within Ukraine itself. However, hundreds of thousands of refugees have been able to return to their country, especially in cities like Kyiv. It is estimated that more than 6.4 million refugees have left Ukraine for Europe since the beginning of the invasion until last August 17, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some Ukrainians have traveled to Russia from Luhansk and Donetsk. Putin has said his forces evacuated 140,000 civilians from Mariupol and insisted none of them were forced to leave for Russia, but volunteer groups say they have helped thousands of Ukrainians leave Russia. Many refugees have left Ukraine for Poland. or Germany. 5. The damage Six months later, the physical damage of the war in Ukraine is evident. Where houses and large buildings once stood, only the rubble of entire collapsed apartment blocks remains. Estimated housing loss during the war through June 8 is $39 billion, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. In total, the figure rises to $104 billion in infrastructure losses. 6. The global impact on food The war has contributed to a global food crisis. Many countries depend on Ukraine’s wheat exports but Russia has been blockading Ukrainian ports since February. Six months later, an agreement has been reached allowing Ukraine to resume its exports. Under the terms of the deal, Russia agreed not to attack ports while shipments are in transit and Ukraine agreed that its warships will guide cargo ships. through mined waters. Several ships carrying grain have left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, but critics fear many may not be able to gain the safety needed to return. The deal has been one of the few diplomatic breakthroughs of the war so far and Turkey and the UN helped broker it. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who participated in the negotiations, urged the parties to continue working “in good faith” so that the agreement is maintained. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the grain agreement could be the basis for peace talks, but few share the enthusiasm. President Zelensky said that negotiations can only start after Russia leaves the invaded territory. He remembers that you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our best content.