“According to the general, the situation with the occupied territories of Donetsk region, Luhansk region, parts of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions is “critical””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to him, the situation with the occupied territories of Donetsk region, Luhansk region, parts of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions is “critical”, because it is “not only about the loss of territories, but also about half of Ukraine’s resource base”.
“This is approximately half of the entire resource base of minerals from all-Ukrainian reserves. And the calculations even gave a number there. In my opinion, the total number there is 15 trillion! There were different assessments. There are more than 20, 25 trillion. Half of them are these currently occupied regions,” Muzhenko emphasized.
He noted that “the development of mineral resources for 1 trillion dollars is capable of ensuring GDP growth within 20-30 years in the range of 8-9 trillion dollars.”
“For how many years are we depriving Ukraine of its development?! Is it necessary to fight for it? For a better life by and large?” – says Muzhenko.
About one thousand Ukrainians returned to the occupied territories of the Russian Federation, according to data from the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. This was reported by the agency at the request of Radio Liberty (“Svoboda.Ranok” project). Also, according to these data, almost five million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were registered in Ukraine as of December 2.
Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the full-scale invasion a “special operation.” Initially, its goal was defined as “demilitarization and de-Nazification”, later – “protection of Donbas”. And in September and early October, Russia made an attempt to annex the partially occupied Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions. Ukraine and the West have declared that these actions are illegal. On October 12, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution condemning the Russian Federation’s attempt to annex the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Russian authorities say that the army does not attack civilian objects. At the same time, Russian aviation, missile forces, navy and artillery shell Ukrainian cities every day. Residential buildings and objects of civil infrastructure throughout the territory of Ukraine are subject to destruction.
At the end of October, Ukraine estimated Russia’s losses in the war at more than 70,000 dead soldiers. In September, Russia announced that its losses were less than 6,000 dead. In June, President Zelensky estimated the ratio of losses of Ukraine and Russia as one to five.
Having not overcome the resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the surviving Russian units withdrew from the territory of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions in early April. And in September, as a result of a lightning counteroffensive, the Ukrainian army liberated almost the entire occupied part of the Kharkiv region.
On November 11, the Ukrainian Defense Forces pushed the Russian forces out of Kherson.
After the liberation of Kyiv region from Russian troops, facts of mass murders, torture and rape of civilians, including children, were discovered in the cities of Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel and villages of the region.
Ukrainian authorities have declared that Russia is committing genocide. Western countries are involved in confirming the facts of mass murders and investigating them. The Russian Federation rejects accusations of war crimes.
Later, the facts of torture and murder of Ukrainian citizens began to be revealed in almost all settlements that were liberated from Russian occupation. In particular, in Chernihiv Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, Kherson Oblast.
Since September 2022, fierce battles of the Russian-Ukrainian war have been going on in the east and south of Ukraine.
On June 6, 2023, the dam of the Kakhov reservoir was completely destroyed (it was under the control of the Russian army from the beginning of March 2022, and in October it was mined by the occupiers), which led to the flooding of a large area, human casualties, destruction of agricultural land, pollution of the Dnipro and the Black Sea. Ukraine called it ecocide.
In total, during the full-scale war from February 24, 2022 to the end of June 2024, the UN verified data on at least 33,878 civilian casualties, including 11,284 deaths.
According to experts, the real number of losses is much higher. According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 20,000 people could have died during the blockade and bombardment of Mariupol alone.