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Russia’s invasion causes damage across Ukraine

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused widespread destruction with direct damages of over $97 billion as of June 1 according to a report by the World Bank, the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.

Ukraine's reconstruction needs could reach an estimated $349 billion or about 1.6 times the country's gross domestic product in 2021.

Land will need to be demined and roads, schools, apartments and hospitals repaired, rebuilt and modernised.

Graphic breaks down the $349 billion needed for Ukraine’s reconstruction needs by sector. Each sector is visualized as a proportional diamond broken down into how much money is needed in the short term and how much is needed in the long term.

The report — the first comprehensive damage assessment of the war's impact on Ukraine — provided preliminary figures that will rise as the war continues.

$105 billion will be needed in the short term to address urgent priorities, such as rebuilding thousands of damaged or destroyed schools and over 500 hospitals.

An aerial image showing destroyed and damaged homes in Irpin.
A destroyed residential area is seen from drone footage after Russian shelling in Irpin, May 7, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Damage most extensive on frontlines

Nearly three-quarters of damage from the war has been concentrated on Ukraine’s eastern front — particularly the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia — where the frontline was sustained for months.

Regions like Kyiv and Chernihiv retaken by Ukrainian troops and returned to government control accounted for 22% of damages.

Map of Ukraine showing regions of Ukraine and proportional circles for the cost of damage by region. The largest costs are on the eastern front and in the Kyiv region.

Cities and towns still on the frontline are expected to endure further damage.

Regions like Kyiv and Chernihiv that were retaken by Ukrainian troops and returned to Ukrainian control amounted to 22% of damages as of June 1.

The devastating toll in one town

In the middle-class Kyiv commuter town of Irpin, nearly half of the 22,149 buildings were estimated to have been damaged or destroyed. Nearly 9,690 of those were residential.

RebuildUA, a project that analyzes the destroyed infrastructure of Ukraine, used drone footage and satellite images to determine 23% of Irpin buildings were damaged. An additional 25% of buildings showed signs of possible damage

Street-level map of Irpin highlighting the nearly 23% of buildings that have been destroyed or damaged.

Along with the Kyiv School of Economics, RebuildUA estimated that infrastructure losses in Irpin amounted to $921.7 million with $648.1 million needed for residential buildings and outbuildings.

The town, which had a pre-war population of nearly 70,000, was one of the main hotspots of fighting before Russian troops pulled back from Ukraine's northern regions to intensify their offensive in the east.

Edited by

Jon McClure, Cynthia Osterman