One year after the Russian invasion, the estimated losses in Ukrainian infrastructure amount to about 133,000 million euros (US$ 143,500 million), the most affected areas are those of Kharkiv and Donetsk and 40% of the damage is registered in homes.
“The housing stock has so far suffered damages of about 50,000 million euros. In total more than 150,000 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed.”, according to Natalija Shapoval, co-director of the project “damaged in AU”, by the KSE Institute in cooperation with the Government, volunteers and other think tanks.
That represents more than 8% of all homes in the country and means that the homes of some 3.2 million people have been damaged. The extent of the destruction is evidenced by the active bombardment of cities with rockets and artillery, major components of Russian military tactics.
In addition to residential buildings, most of the damage affects the infrastructure of the country and companies, respectively worth 33.6 billion euros and 10.5 billion euros, according to the report of that program corresponding to the first year of the Russian invasion.
The roads have suffered damages of around 24.8 billion euros due to the bombing and the intense movement of tanks and other heavy material. At least 19 military and civilian airfields have been attacked, as well as no less than 126 railway stations.
Direct attacks caused damage of about 7.5 billion euros against energy infrastructure objects. All thermal and hydroelectric power facilities were damaged, while the destruction of the power distribution network is valued at around 2.2 billion euros.
More than thirty crude storage and processing facilities have also been hit.
The Ukrainians have lost about 207,500 private vehicles worth about 1.73 billion euros, as well as the world’s largest plane, the “Mriya” (Dream), valued at about 280 million euros and which was destroyed during the attempt by the troops Russian forces to gain control of the Hostomel airport, near Kiev.
Apart from some 426 large or medium-sized companies, such as Azovstal in Mariupol, the assets of several tens of thousands of small businesses have been totally or partially destroyed.
The most affected regions have been those in the east -Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lugansk- with damages valued at 29.9 billion, 28.9 billion and 16.4 billion euros, respectively.
The report’s authors warn that losses are expected to increase with the continuation of the war. The reliability of the data, however, is not complete because it is not possible to access the occupied areas or under constant fire or because they have mined areas.
Max Nefyodov, co-director of the project, stated for his part that “all these figures are needed for recovery planning, for analyzing the help that is needed from donors and for the preparation of lawsuits (against Russia for the losses caused)”.
He added that all the data was provided by hundreds of analysts who compare them with those available from various sources and testify to the extent of the damage through drone overflights of the areas studied.
The information will contributeto the administration of Justice, the confiscation of Russian assets and compensation to Ukrainian companies and citizens”.
The amount required to repair damaged properties will likely be higher than estimated, in many cases based on the historical value of the lost assets.
According to the joint estimate of the Government of Ukraine and the World Bank, published last week, some 381.4 billion euros will be required for the reconstruction of the country. This amount is 2.6 times more than the Ukrainian Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which fell by 30.4% in 2022 compared to the previous year due to the Russian invasion.
In addition to direct damage, the estimates take into account the “interruptions in economic flows and production losses”which are around 270,000 million euros.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has indicated that the figures do not include data on losses of infrastructure, housing and businesses in the territories occupied by Russia.
He added that the reconstruction process has already begun. According to the joint estimate, the Government of Ukraine would have to spend about 13 billion euros in critical investments for the reconstruction and recovery of the country in 2023.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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