Russia-Ukraine War: No quick respite from the bloodbath

In the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the number of casualties continues to rise, with both military personnel and civilians losing their lives and as things turn for the worse, the possibility for a quick respite from the "bloodbath" looks grim and distant.

According to recent reports, the overall death toll in the war, including both civilians and troop members, has surpassed 200,000 people in the span of just one year.

The UN has reported that more than 8,000 civilians lost their lives in Ukraine since Russia invaded, some say a response to NATO's rapid expansion in the region, back in February 2022.

It described the figure as only the "tip of the iceberg" with thousands more thought to have died.

Nearly 18 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, with 14 million people displaced from their homes, it said adding that men accounted for 61.1% of confirmed civilian casualties and women 39.9%.

Besides, at least 487 children were killed and 954 injured.

The rights monitors also found that more than nine in 10 civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons with "wide area effects," including artillery shells, cruise and ballistic missiles, and air strikes.

The UN also recorded 632 civilian casualties – 219 killed and 413 injured – caused by mines and explosive remnants of war.

Meanwhile, there is an absence of precise and 100% authentic data on the number of Russian and Ukrainian troops killed and wounded in the war but it is safe to say that the numbers are in the hundreds and thousands.

As per US and European estimates, Grid News, in a recently published article, wrote that the number of soldiers killed and injured on both sides has crossed the 300,000 mark (180,000-200,000 on the Russian side; and 100,000 or more on the Ukrainian side).

On Norwegian TV in January this year, General Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway's defence chief, said estimates were that Russia had suffered 180,000 dead and wounded, while Ukraine had 100,000 killed or wounded in action along with 30,000 civilian deaths.

General Kristoffersen, in an email to The New York Times, said that there is "much uncertainty regarding these numbers, as no one at the moment is able to give a good overview. They could be both lower or even higher."
Whereas, senior US officials said that they believe the number for Russia is closer to 200,000.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, estimated last December that as many as 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the war began.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, in early November, estimated that both sides had seen about 100,000 soldiers killed or injured.

*Data collected from various international sources