Putin’s war has exacted a terrible toll on Ukraine

Putin badly miscalculated. The Russian army terribly underperformed. Kyiv has shown unexpected resilience in the face of what experts thought was far superior Russian firepower. This, we’re told, is the story of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and all of it is true. Vladimir Putin’s talk of a ‘dirty bomb’ is evidence of how badly the war is going for him. Russia has been taught a bitter lesson, one that other trigger-happy, self-proclaimed great powers would be wise to heed. But one part has been missed. For all of Russia’s difficulties, it is in a far better shape than Ukraine.

Fighting has left Ukraine in ruin. Consider these eye-watering statistics: at least seven million people, mostly women and children, have left the country, from a pre-war population of 37 million, excluding Crimea and some of the Donbas. Some probably hope to return, but many never will. Tens of thousands, at a conservative estimate, have been killed in the fighting.