It's been 100 days since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked, brutal assault on that neighboring country's sovereignty. Putin's forces have engaged in documented war crimes ranging from deliberately targeting civilian populations, to forcibly removing Ukrainians from their country to Russia for "filtering" (i.e. imprisonment and indoctrination). While Ukraine had met with battlefield success in the first two months by pushing Putin's invaders out of the areas surrounding Kiev and, to a lesser extent, around Kharkiv, the Russians have mounted a counteroffensive in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine capturing Mariupol and other cities. The Associated Press has a summary of where the conflict stands after 100 days of battle:
"...Moscow has released scant information about casualties among its forces and allies, and given no accounting of civilian deaths in areas under its control. In some places — such as the long-besieged city of Mariupol, potentially the war’s biggest killing field — Russian forces are accused of trying to cover up deaths and dumping bodies into mass graves, clouding the overall toll.
With all those caveats, “at least tens of thousands” of Ukrainian civilians have died so far, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday in comments to Luxembourg’s parliament. [snip]
Zelenskyy said this week that 60 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying in combat every day, with about 500 more wounded.
Russia’s last publicly released figures for its own forces came March 25, when a general told state media that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded.
Ukraine and Western observers say the real number is much higher: Zelenskyy said Thursday that more than 30,000 Russian servicemen have died — “more than the Soviet Union lost in 10 years of the war in Afghanistan”; in late April, the British government estimated Russian losses at 15,000."
The devastation of towns and cities has been well documented in the international media, with 38,000 residential buildings destroyed, according to Ukrainian officials. The destruction from Russian attacks goes further:
"Nearly 1,900 educational facilities from kindergartens to grade schools to universities have been damaged, including 180 completely ruined.
Other infrastructure losses include 300 car and 50 rail bridges, 500 factories and about 500 damaged hospitals, according to Ukrainian officials.
The World Health Organization has tallied 296 attacks on hospitals, ambulances and medical workers in Ukraine this year."
And these figures are after only 100 days, with the likelihood of Putin digging in growing more likely. We and our allies have to continue to support Ukraine with the defensive weapons it needs to push back on Putin's forces, and it will be well beyond another 100 days.
