The Costs of War in Ukraine

March 5th, 2025 Volodymyr, from Borodyanka (near Kyiv) was wounded defending his country on the frontline in Luhansk, in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. In a rehabilitation center in western Ukraine, he and other amputees who lost their limbs defending their country, are rehabilitated. They train and learn to handle their prosthesis, in order to return to 'normal' life. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s armed forces have suffered more than 46,000 casualties and 390,000 wounded. Between 50,000 and 100,000 soldiers have suffered amputations. In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, the costs of the Russian onslaught in Ukraine continue to rise. In 2025 and 2026, Putin has intensified air attacks, with increasingly brutal strikes on cities, infrastructure, and civilian life. On the frontlines, explosive drones kill everything that moves. Despite periodic signals of peace talks involving the United States, there is little indication that Russia is willing to end the war. At the same time, Western support has become more uncertain, shaped by political divisions and shifting priorities. For Ukraine, this growing imbalance is felt not only on the battlefield but across society, as exhaustion deepens and the human consequences of prolonged war accumulate.