When Russia launched a dawn assault on Ukraine on February 24 — attacking the nation from the north, south and east and surging troops towards the capital Kyiv — it stunned the Western world and threw Ukraine’s nearly 44 million inhabitants into a panic.
The ensuing six months of war between Europe’s two largest nations have wrought death on a mass scale and forced millions from their homes. The battlefield has dramatically shifted across the country, but wherever the conflict has traveled, it has left ruinous devastation in its wake.
Half a year into the war, the magnitude of the conflict can be measured not only in weaponry and territory but in its ever-spiraling human cost. Civilians, in their thousands, have become victims of the fighting, while those who escaped have fled across Europe in an effort to rebuild their lives.
Once a prosperous and young European country, parts of Ukraine now lie in ruins. These figures demonstrate the scale of Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.