Today marks one week since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and with it there have been a number of casualties, equipment losses, as well as displaced individuals. 

Refugees

As of 2nd March 2022, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that over 870,000 people have fled Ukraine to seek refuge of which 450,000 went to Poland, whilst the rest ended up in Ukraine’s neighbouring states or other European states. The EU Commission estimates these numbers at 650,000 whilst the British Ministry of Defence quotes it at 660,000.

Civilian Deaths and Injuries

Ukraine’s Emergency Service has reported that the latest figures for civilian deaths stand at over 2000, 10 of which were emergency personnel before they removed the post. 

The United Nations in the same time frame recorded a total of 536 civilian casualties, with at least 400 injuries and 136 deaths, but warned that this number could be much higher. 

Forces Deaths and Injuries

Regarding soldier casualties, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) claimed that there have been 2,870 deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and a further 3,700 soldiers wounded. Ukraine has not provided statistics regarding soldier casualties. 

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs does claim that 5,840 Russian personnel have been killed in this first week. 

On the other hand, Russia, in an unexpected turn of events, has provided statistics for the first time this week on its losses and stated that the amount of Russian soldiers killed only amounted to 498 individuals with a further 1,597 injured. 

Military Equipment and Vehicle Losses

Russia’s MoD in today’s briefing stated that the Ukrainian forces has suffered the following losses regarding equipment:

• 1533 objects were hit during the operations, 54 of them being control points and communication centres of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

• 39 S-300, Buk M-1, and Osa anti-aircraft

• 47 aircrafts on the ground and 13 aircrafts in the air

• 484 tanks and others armoured combat vehicles

• 63 multiple rocket launchers

• 217 field artillery and mortars

• 336 units of special military vehicles

• 47 unmanned aerial vehicles

Similarly, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided statistics regarding the Russian forces as follows:

• 30 aircraft

• 31 helicopters

• 211 tanks 

• 60 cisterns

• 3 UAV

• 1 anti-aircraft missile system BUK

• 862 armoured vehicles of different types 

• 85 artillery pieces

• 40 Grad system

• 355 vehicles

• 2 vessels 

• 9 anti-aircraft warfare systems

It must be noted for all of the numbers presented above, that these cannot be fully or at all verified, with some being speculative estimates. It must also be noted that these numbers are changing rapidly with continuous updates. Thus, none should be taken as hard facts.