Statistical Look at the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-19

The world looks at the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-19 as if it’s a made-for-television movie about war and peace. Or a video game.

Perhaps world leaders and international organizations are sick and tired or afraid of delving deeper into the causes and effects of Russia’s invasion and war against Ukraine. They naively believe that negotiations, sanctions and the so-called Minsk process can force Russia to withdraw its murderous soldiers from Ukraine.

The Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-19 is real and its bloody trail can be seen across eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.

Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, in a statement to the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on February 13, provided a succinct chronological and numerical presentation of the coldblooded statistics of Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.

As Yelchenko said, “So here we go.”

•February the 20th. This is the day when back in 2014 Russia started its invasion in Crimea. We’ll have a General Assembly debate on this date, but maybe someone will come up with an idea of having a discussion in the Security Council as well. It is better to be prepared, just in case;

•March the 16th. The date of holding the infamous so-called referendum in Crimea. The GA on March 27, 2014, adopted resolution 68/262 asserting that this so-called referendum has no validity and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of Crimea. By the way, the Russian side is consistently pushing the narrative of a peaceful nature of events in Crimea. Just one episode from 2014 for your reflection: on March 18, Ukrainian warrant officer Serhiy Kokurin, a native of Crimea, was shot by two bullets in the heart during the Russian special forces assault at the Ukrainian cartographic station near Simferopol. He was the first Ukrainian soldier killed by Russia in this war;

•June the 14th. Over the Luhansk airport the Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian transport aircraft killing 40 Ukrainian paratroopers and 9 crew members;

•July the 17th. The downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. Another terrorist attack by Russia. All 298 people onboard were killed;

•August the 23rd-24th. Four battalion-tactical groups of the Russian armed forces invade the territory of Ukraine;

•September the 5th. Signing of the Minsk Protocol, which together with the Minsk Memorandum constitutes the core of the Minsk agreements, implemented by the Package of Measures. For the record, on the Russian side the document was signed by Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov;

•October the 22nd. At a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Russia blocked the adoption of the decision to extend the mandate of the OSCE Observer Mission at the Russian Checkpoints Gukovo and Donetsk to the entire uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border. By the way, paragraph 4 of the aforementioned Minsk Protocol reads as follows, and I quote: Ensure permanent monitoring on the Ukrainian-Russian State border and verification by OSCE, along with the establishment of a security area in the border regions of Ukraine and the Russian Federation;

•November the 2nd. Illegal elections were held in the occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It was yet another violation of the Minsk Protocol, paragraph 9: Ensure the holding of early local elections in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on the interim status of local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Law on Special Status). Worse, the recent holding, in late 2018, by the Russian occupation administration of another illegal so-called “elections” in the occupied areas added insult to injury: it was a clear and deliberate provocation to undermine the Minsk agreements;

•November the 25th. Another significant development, this time in 2018, when the Russian navy attacked Ukraine’s two armored boats Nikopol and Berdyansk and a tugboat Yani Kapu;

•January the 13th. In early 2015, the Russian forces shelled a checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha. 12 civilians were killed and 18 more were wounded. Later the same month, on January the 24th, the Russian forces randomly shelled the outskirts of Mariupol, killing 31 civilians.

• From 2015 on, Russia 18 times (I repeat, 18 times) has effectively sabotaged implementation of ceasefire agreements. During this period, there were over 54,000 cases of ceasefire violations. In almost 6,000 cases, the Russian forces used weapon systems prohibited by the Minsk Agreements.

A few more statistics presented by Ambassador Yelchenko:

• As of the beginning of this February, the Russian armed formations in Donbas have in their possession 496 main battle tanks (this is comparable to the arsenals of such countries as Germany, France, Indonesia), 938 armored combat vehicles (similar to Peru and Kuwait), 128 multiple launch rocket system (somewhat less than Indonesia), 776 artillery systems, including self-propelled ones (again, comparable to the numbers in such former Council members as Kazakhstan or Ethiopia).

• The armed force of 35,000 in the occupied Donbas is supported by over 2,100 Russian regular military, mostly in the key command and control positions.

• The total number of the Russian offensive strike group personnel along the Russian-Ukrainian border (including the groups adjacent to the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea) is 87,750 military.

From Crimea, to eastern Ukraine and now to the Sea of Azov, Russia has been killing Ukrainian civilians and soldiers while chiseling away Ukrainian territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence for more than five years.

Is the free world prepared to tolerate this crime against global institutions, law and order, and peace and security without an end in sight? No one had to convince the free world to mobilize a powerful military machine to defeat Nazi Germany after it invaded Poland, France, Italy and others.