In a month of conflict, Russia’s war in Ukraine piles up images of destruction.
The Moscow-led attacks target large cities, military bases and infrastructure networks, in an offensive that has already caused billions of damage to the country, claimed thousands of lives and created Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
In a version battle between Kiev and Moscow and an environment of blame-taking, the escalation of violence also hit civilian targets. In the south of the country, for example, the intensification of the attacks on Mariupol was classified as a war crime by authorities of the European Union and the United States. The Kremlin refutes the allegations and claims that civilians are being used as a human shield by the Ukrainians.
The offensive against the coastal city was recorded in a sequence of satellite images, which captured bombings against shopping malls, residential areas and even hospitals.
According to Kiev, on March 9, a maternity hospital was hit by a Russian air offensive, carried out in the midst of a partial ceasefire to evacuate civilians. Moscow, in turn, claims that the building was used by the Ukrainian military, which would legitimize the attack.
Less than 2 km away, records made by the company Maxar on the 14th showed a series of fires near a theater that was used as a bomb shelter and had the word “children” written on its sides. Forty-eight hours later, on the 16th, the building was also bombed.
A report produced by the UN estimates that so far the attacks on the country’s infrastructure have already accumulated damage of about US$ 100 billion. At least two-thirds of Ukraine’s GDP is consumed in just 20 days of war. The damage is compounded by the thousands of deaths, an exodus of more than 3.5 million refugees and the projection that up to 90% of the population could be pushed below the poverty line if the attacks continue at their current intensity.
Negotiations between Moscow and Kiev are progressing with timid progress and it is still too early to say whether the war is nearing an end. But what is taken for granted by analysts is that the damage done in just one month of conflict will take years to recover.
