Death, Destruction, Despair: Ukraine’s two years of trauma and suffering

The day, 24 February, is one that can’t be forgotten. It was on this very day that Russian president Vladimir Putin launched what he called a “special military operation” to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine. Speaking at the time, the Russian leader had said: Its (military operation) goal is to protect people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the regime in Kyiv for eight years. And for this we will pursue the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.”

Now, it’s been two years since that operation began. Countless of lives have been lost, millions have been forced to flee homes and become refugees and the scale of destruction is impossible to put into words. Even people’s perception about the world has changed since then.

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There’s also dimming hope that Kyiv will be able to fend off the Moscow onslaught, as support from the West dries up. “I can say that the chances of Ukraine defeating Russia are basically close to zero,” Ivan Katchanovski, a Ukrainian political scientist, told the South China Morning Post.

As the war enters its third year, we take a look at how this seemingly unending war has taken a toll on Ukrainians, changing their lives forever.

Death, destruction, despair

Everywhere you look there are signs that the two-year-old war has irrevocably changed the face of Ukraine. There are crowded burial plots everywhere, bearing bitter testament to a grinding war against Russia that’s now entering its third year, with no end in sight. Mounds of freshly dug earth are often marked by simple wooden crosses, photos of the dead, brightly coloured flowers and yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags.

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However, ask what has been the toll in Ukraine and no one can give you a definitive answer. The United Nations assess the Ukrainian casualty count to be over 10,000 civilians, including more than 560 children, and over 18,500 being injured since Russia launched its full-scale armed attack against Ukraine (this number is from November 2023). However, the real numbers are likely to be much higher. Also, as the war rages on, these numbers will continue to increase.

And it’s not just casualties. The war has also caused a significant rise in displacement. As of January, 6.3 million Ukrainians have become refugees abroad, with another 3.7 million displaced internally.

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, speaking on the same said: “It continues to cause serious and widespread human rights violations, destroying lives and livelihoods. The long-term impact of this war in Ukraine will be felt for generations,” he said.

The impact of this war, however, goes beyond casualties, injuries and people fleeing their homes. It has impacted almost every aspect of Ukrainian life. Businesses have shut down, buildings have been reduced to rubble and schools bear an almost ghost-like appearance.

Those who continue to live in Ukraine also have to contend with the horrors of the war. Viktoria Scherbak, living in Balakliya, tells Le Monde: “I have flashbacks, my heart problems have worsened, and I’ve developed a stomach ulcer. The images of planes razing the city at the start of the invasion often come back to her. The bombing burst the windows of her apartment and made “clouds of smoke like mushrooms”. This fear is still with us today, we feel a permanent anxiety.”

As Ilya Yesiley, a psychologist and volunteer with the humanitarian foundation of Olena Zelenska (the wife of the Ukrainian president) dedicated in particular to mental health problems, said in the same report that the trauma caused by the war is unprecedented. And it’s not just restricted to soldiers fighting on the front lines. “Civilians, suffering from bombardments, occupation, the loss of loved ones, the destruction of their homes and their forced departure, are also victims. All generations are affected, regardless of where they live, near the front or in the rear. I haven’t met a single person – man, woman or child – who hasn’t been traumatised,” said Yesiley.

And like in any war, children are the biggest victims. They have been robbed of their childhood, education and their future. The UN children’s fund UNICEF said last August that only about a third of school-aged children across Ukraine attended classes fully in person. More than 1,300 schools had been destroyed altogether in government-held areas of the country.

Prisoners of war

As well as the dead, there are the missing.

Ukrainian officials say about 8,000 people – civilians and soldiers – are in Russian captivity as a result of hostilities.

Some 3,000 people, mostly military, have been freed in dozens of prisoner of war exchanges, but thousands of families have been left to ponder the fate of captured relatives.

Among them are Lozuvatka residents Tetiana Terletska and Yurii Terletskyi, who said their 29-year-old son Denys joined the National Guard in 2021 and was captured while fighting in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in May 2022.

Ukrainian forces there struggled for months to repel Russia’s invasion in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war, before Kyiv ordered them to surrender when further defence looked doomed.

“We want to show that nobody has forgotten them,” Terletska said to Reuters at a demonstration by dozens of people in Kryvyi Rih demanding that the government do all it can to free captives. “We will always keep fighting for them as they fought for us.”

The parents described how they were racked by constant pain and anxiety about their son’s fate, which they tried to temper with hope that they would one day get him back alive.

“This is very difficult,” Terletska said in her kitchen in Lozuvatka. “It is 2024 and we still don’t have any news. I don’t know anything about my son.”

Terletskyi added: “Sometimes, I dream of him. I want to see him again, I want him to come home.”

Struggling economy and toll on culture

The two-year war has also nearly destroyed Ukraine’s economy. As Kyiv struggles against Moscow, it attempts to draft people from all walks of life into the military. Farmers, business owners, and other skilled labourers have joined the fighting forces.

This presents a deep dilemma for Kyiv as it seeks to mobilise another 4,50-5,00,000 Ukrainians: If it tries to recruit too many people, it could end up damaging an economy already ravaged by the war.

The war has also had a devastating toll on Ukraine’s culture. Forbes reports that a total of 4,779 cultural and tourist assets in Ukraine have been reported as damaged, including buildings of heritage value, and works of art, among others. UNESCO estimated that the war has resulted in nearly $3.5 billion in damage, up from $2.6 billion the year before. The recovery will cost nearly $9 billion over the next decade.

It is uncertain which way the war will go. But a total defeat of Ukraine looks like an impossible dream. However, a total victory for Russia also seems unlikely. But the fighting continues with no peace and resolution in sight.

With inputs from Reuters