2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The European Parliament has awarded the brave people of Ukraine, represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society, the 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The nomination highlights the efforts of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together with the role of individuals, representatives of civil society initiatives, and state and public institutions, including the State Emergency Services of Ukraine, Yulia Pajevska, founder of the evacuation medical unit Angels of Taira, Oleksandra Matviychuk, human rights lawyer and chairwoman of the organisation Center for Civil Liberties, the Yellow Ribbon Civil Resistance Movement, and Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which is currently under Russian occupation.
Casualties.
As of October 17, 15908 civilian casualties were recorded as a result of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, including 6306 killed and 9602 injured according to UN OHCHR. The actual toll is much higher. Since the start of the war, 1250 children have been injured or killed by Russian armed activities. 430 children were killed due to military activities, 820 children were injured mostly due to shelling and airstrikes.
Forced migration.
As of October 19, around 3 300 532 people have been registered as internally displaced persons in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. 7 710 924 Ukrainian refugees were recorded across Europe. Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kyiv regions have been hosting the highest number of displaced persons. Women make up 65 per cent of internally displaced people within Ukraine.
Deportation.
Over 1.6 million Ukrainians have been forcibly deported by Russian forces to different regions of Russia according to President Zelenskyy. Many of them went through filtration camps and were left with no documents. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 236 Ukrainian children are considered missing, and at least 7343 children were deported to Russia.
Cities under the attack.
As of October 17, 2022, 326 territorial communities are located in the areas of military (combat) operations or are under temporary occupation, or encirclement (blockade). This includes 9 regions – Donetsk (66), Kharkiv (56), Dnipropetrovsk (10), Luhansk (37), Zaporizhzhia (56), Kherson (49), Mykolaiv (26), Sumy (22), Chernihiv (4) regions. At the end of September, Russia held sham referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions on alleged accession of the territories to Russia. On the night of September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decrees to recognise the so-called independence of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as a follow-up of the sham referenda. Neither Ukraine, nor the international community recognised the results, but rather condemned the unlawful actions of Russia.
Energy security.
Since October 10, Russian troops have carried out about 300 strikes on Ukraine’s energy system. As a result, about 30% of Ukraine’s energy system’s total infrastructure and generating capacity has been seriously damaged.
Environmental security.
1 351 bln UAH (apr 36 bln EUR) is an approximate amount of the environmental damage caused by the Russian war in Ukraine. The direct damage caused to the climate by the war is estimated at least 31 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Infrastructure damages.
The total amount of direct documented infrastructure damages, based only on public sources, is $127 billion. The largest share in the total volume of damages belongs to residential buildings — 39.7% or $50.5 billion. Business asset damages equal at least $9.9 billion and continue growing. In terms of industries, metallurgy suffered the most. In total, at least 412 enterprises have been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the war, of which 64 are large and medium-sized enterprises.
Education.
2346 schools, universities and other education facilities were damaged due to the Russian invasion, 331 have been destroyed completely. The Donetsk region is among the territories most hardly hit: 66 educational objects there have been totally destroyed and 659 damaged. 5.7 million school-aged children were affected by a devastating impact of the war.
Culture.
Around 540 verified episodes of war crimes committed by Russians against cultural heritage in Ukraine. 161 objects of cultural heritage were destroyed and damaged. In particular, there are 23 monuments of national significance and 129 monuments of local significance, 143 objects of valuable historical development and 9 newly discovered sites of cultural heritage according to the Ministry of culture and information policy of Ukraine.
Media.
Russia committed 457 crimes against journalists and media. As of October 24, the Russian military killed a total of 42 journalists in Ukraine, of which eight journalists were killed while performing their professional duties. Three of them are Ukrainian and five are foreign. 34 died due to Russian shelling, not while performing their journalistic duties. 14 journalists were injured.
