Russia Has Caused $800 Billion In Damages To Ukraine: Millions Of Facilities Destroyed

Invading Russian forces have caused massive destruction in Ukraine amounting to over $700 billion, a Ukraine official revealed.

Oleh Harvysh, chief consultant of Ukraine's Department of Organizational Work of the Office of the President, said data from the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office shows the Russian invasion has brought damage to about 74,400 residential buildings, 2,500 educational institutions, 500 hospitals, 400 cultural buildings, 120 religious buildings, and 4,500,000 network and communication facilities.

A total of 114 energy facilities were also destroyed, noting that both state and private enterprises across Ukraine were affected.

"We, as a state, now estimate the amount of all this destruction to be somewhere around USD 700-800 billion," Harvysh said at a Media Center Ukraine briefing on Tuesday.

Harvysh stressed that Ukraine would exhaust all efforts to ensure that Russia compensates and faces charges for all the destruction it had caused to the country since it started its invasion in February 2022.

He added measures are underway to obtain Russia's sovereign money, which is about $100 billion, to cover for the costs. The money is "currently frozen everywhere in the world," the Ukraine Media Center described.

Harvysh admitted the process is difficult and it may take 5 to 7 years before Ukraine obtains the money. The worst-case scenario is they will wait until 10 years.

"We understand that it is possible that we will not be able to obtain all the money, even if we seize all the assets that Russia currently has around the world. Then we will take it to courts and sue Russia for as long as it takes to get everything it owes us, to get compensation for all the damage it has caused us," the official explained.

In March, the World Bank estimated that it would cost around $411 billion to help Ukraine's recovery from the war. The estimated costs could further increase if hostilities continue.

World Bank President David Malpass said the international financial institution is willing to fund the rebuilding efforts of Ukraine, but he called on Western European nations to help as they could not shoulder the total cost.

"The bank is prepared to play its role in the reconstruction, but I do need to set the expectations for the world that the amount to rebuild the electricity sector, the road sector, a railroad sector are way bigger relative to the size of the balance sheets of the international financial institutions," Malpass said at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, thousands have died and millions have been displaced, triggering sanctions from the international community.

The latest records of the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner showed that there were 22,734 civilian casualties in Ukraine amid the attacks, which include 8,490 fatalities and 14,244 wounded.

However, the said office noted that actual figures could be "considerably higher" because receiving information from some areas where conflicts are intense have been delayed. It added that some reports on casualties are still pending corroboration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had claimed that the full-scale invasion was a "special military operation" to "de-Nazify" the country.