At 100 Days, Russia-Ukraine War by the Numbers

A view of the city of Mariupol on June 2, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)
A view of the city of Mariupol on June 2, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)
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At 100 Days, Russia-Ukraine War by the Numbers

A view of the city of Mariupol on June 2, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)
A view of the city of Mariupol on June 2, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP)

One hundred days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the war has brought the world a near-daily drumbeat of gut wrenching scenes: Civilian corpses in the streets of Bucha; a blown-up theater in Mariupol; the chaos at a Kramatorsk train station in the wake of a Russian missile strike.

Those images tell just a part of the overall picture of Europe's worst armed conflict in decades. Here's a look at some numbers and statistics that - while in flux and at times uncertain - shed further light on the death, destruction, displacement and economic havoc wrought by the war as it reaches this milestone with no end in sight.

The human toll
Nobody really knows how many combatants or civilians have died, and claims of casualties by government officials - who may sometimes be exaggerating or low-balling their figures for public relations reasons - are all but impossible to verify.

Government officials, UN agencies and others who carry out the grim task of counting the dead don't always get access to places where people were killed.

And 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.

In Mariupol alone, officials have reported over 21,000 civilian dead. Sievierodonetsk, a city in the eastern region of Luhansk that has become the focus of Russia’s offensive, has seen roughly 1,500 casualties, according to the mayor.

Such estimates comprise both those killed by Russian strikes or troops and those who succumbed to secondary effects such as hunger and sickness as food supplies and health services collapsed.

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.

Speaking on condition of anonymity Wednesday to discuss intelligence matters, a Western official said Russia is "still taking casualties, but ... in smaller numbers." The official estimated that some 40,000 Russian troops have been wounded.

In Moscow-backed separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine, authorities have reported over 1,300 fighters lost and nearly 7,500 wounded in the Donetsk region, along with 477 dead civilians and nearly 2,400 wounded; plus 29 civilians killed and 60 wounded in Luhansk.

The devastation
Relentless shelling, bombing and airstrikes have reduced large swaths of many cities and towns to rubble.

Ukraine’s parliamentary commission on human rights says Russia's military has destroyed almost 38,000 residential buildings, rendering about 220,000 people homeless.

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.

Fleeing home
The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates that about 6.8 million people have been driven out of Ukraine at some point during the conflict.

But since fighting subsided in the area near Kyiv and elsewhere, and Russian forces redeployed to the east and south, about 2.2 million have returned to the country, it says.

The UN's International Organization for Migration estimates that as of May 23 there were more than 7.1 million internally displaced people - that is, those who fled their homes but remain in the country. That's down from over 8 million in an earlier count.

Land seized
Ukrainian officials say that before the February invasion, Russia controlled some 7% of Ukrainian territory including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and areas held by the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy said Russian forces now held 20% of the country.

While the front lines are constantly shifting, that amounts to an additional 58,000 square kilometers (22,000 square miles) under Russian control, a total area slightly larger than Croatia or a little smaller than the US state of West Virginia.

The economic fallout in Russia and Ukraine ...
The West has levied a host of retaliatory sanctions against Moscow including on the crucial oil and gas sectors, and Europe is beginning to wean itself from its dependence on Russian energy.

Evgeny Gontmakher, academic director of European Dialogue, wrote in a paper this week that Russia currently faces over 5,000 targeted sanctions, more than any other country. Some $300 billion of Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves in the West have been frozen, he added, and air traffic in the country dropped from 8.1 million to 5.2 million passengers between January and March.

Additionally, the Kyiv School of Economics has reported that more than 1,000 "self-sanctioning" companies have curtailed their operations in Russia.

The MOEX Russia stock index has plunged by about a quarter since just before the invasion and is down nearly 40 percent from the start of the year. And the Russian Central Bank said last week that annualized inflation came in at 17.8 percent in April.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has reported suffering a staggering economic blow: 35% of GDP wiped out by the war.

"Our direct losses today exceed $600 billion," Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said recently.

Ukraine, a major agricultural producer, says it has been unable to export some 22 million tons of grain. It blames a backlog of shipments on Russian blockades or capture of key ports. Zelenskyy accused Russia this week of stealing at least a half-million tons of grain during the invasion.

... And the world
The fallout has rippled around the globe, further driving up costs for basic goods on top of inflation that was already in full swing in many places before the invasion.

Crude oil prices in London and New York have risen by 20 to 25 percent, resulting in higher prices at the pump and for an array of petroleum-based products.

Developing countries are being squeezed particularly hard by higher costs of food, fuel and financing, according to economist Richard Kozul-Wright of the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

Wheat supplies have been disrupted in African nations, which imported 44% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine in the years immediately before the invasion. The African Development Bank has reported a 45% increase in continental prices for the grain, affecting everything from Mauritanian couscous to the fried donuts sold in Congo.



Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
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Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)

Every four years America's president is sworn in on Inauguration Day, whether newly elected or returning to office, in a long-established ceremony held amid pageantry shaped by the incoming leader's personal flourishes.

What does that mean for the inauguration of Donald Trump? Queue the Village People and social media titans -- and leave the mittens and scarves behind, following a last-minute decision to move the inauguration indoors.

Here is a preview of the pomp and circumstance that will unfold Monday when Trump is sworn in as the 47th president.

- The oath -

The US Constitution mandates that each new president's term begin at noon on January 20 (or the day after if it falls on a Sunday), and that the president take the oath of office.

In recent years, presidents have been sworn in from an enormous temporary platform on the Capitol's scenic West Lawn. This year, owing to a frigid forecast, it will take place inside in the Capitol Rotunda.

The oath is most often administered by the Supreme Court chief justice, and Monday would mark John Roberts's second time officiating for Trump.

The new president also delivers an inaugural address, laying out his plans for the next four years. The Republican rang in his first term in 2017 with a particularly dark speech evoking "American carnage."

Incoming vice president JD Vance will also be sworn in.

People stand look at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 18, 2025, as the US capital prepares for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. (AFP)

- The guests -

In a particularly Trumpian twist, the Republican has invited a number of tech titans to attend the inauguration, joining more traditional guests such as his cabinet nominees.

Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will attend as will Shou Chew, the head of Chinese social media giant TikTok, according to US media.

Trump has courted closer ties with the tech moguls, and his campaign benefited from disinformation spread on social media platforms such as TikTok, Musk's X and Zuckerberg's Facebook and Instagram.

Outgoing president Joe Biden will attend the ceremony -- despite Trump's refusal to appear at Biden's swearing-in when he beat Trump in 2020.

All living former presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- will attend, as will their wives, except for Michelle Obama.

That means Hillary Clinton, whom Trump beat in the 2016 presidential election, in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he beat in November, will be there.

Heads of state are not traditionally invited, but Trump has sent invitations to a handful of foreign leaders, including some who share his right-wing politics.

Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will attend, her office confirmed Saturday.

Hungary's Viktor Orban, Argentine President Javier Milei and China's Xi Jinping have also been invited, but not all will attend.

People brave the winter weather on the National Mall days ahead of the 60th Presidental Inauguration on January 18, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)

- A move indoors -

Crowd size is a preoccupation of Trump's, but the last-minute switch to an indoor event may dent his bragging rights.

More than 220,000 tickets were being distributed to the public before Trump announced Friday that frigid temperatures meant the inauguration would shift to the Capitol Rotunda, which can accommodate only about 600 people.

Trump said supporters could watch a live feed from Washington's Capital One sports arena, which holds up to 20,000 -- and he promised to drop in later.

"This will be a very beautiful experience for all," the president-elect said.

- The orders -

Trump said he is preparing to sign multiple executive orders as early as his first day in office, aimed at undoing many of the Biden administration's policies.

Among other promises, he has pledged to launch a mass deportation program and increase oil drilling. He has also said he might immediately begin pardoning January 6 rioters, his followers who ransacked the Capitol in 2021.

Immediately after the inauguration a meeting is planned between US officials and foreign ministers from Japan, India and Australia, the so-called "Quad" which the Biden administration saw as a counterweight to an assertive China.

Carrie Underwood arrives at the People's Choice Awards, Dec. 6, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)

- The music -

Trump's first inauguration in 2017 was marked by a lack of celebrity power, with few A-list musicians willing to be associated with him.

Trump inauguration 2.0 is in better shape.

Country star Carrie Underwood will sing "America the Beautiful" during the swearing-in ceremony.

Also performing will be country singer Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic anthem "God Bless the USA" is standard at Trump rallies.

A pre-inauguration rally Sunday will include a performance by the Village People, whose 1970s-era "Y.M.C.A." is another Trump event staple, in addition to Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Country musicians including Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw plus the Village People will perform across Trump's three official inaugural balls.

- The galas -

Trump is expected to attend all three official inaugural galas on Monday night. More than a dozen others are planned.

In addition, he will put on a "Make America Great Again Victory Rally" Sunday evening at Capital One Arena.