The magnitude of damage in Ukraine is immense and still increasing.

Ukrainians (military and

civilians alike) are being killed simply because they are Ukrainians. Whole cities – like Mariupol
– are being razed to the ground. Evident atrocities fitting the criteria of war crimes are being
perpetrated and accompanied by genocidal talk on Russian state TV. Hundreds of thousands of
people, including children, have been forcefully deported to Russia. Over six million (at the time
of writing) have had to flee Ukraine; many more have been internally displaced. Hospitals,
infrastructure, cultural treasures, private homes and industrial centres are either destroyed or
pillaged, with stolen goods being sent to Russia in an organised manner.
Russia has also purposefully raised the level of risk for the possible use of nuclear weapons, the
main goal primarily being to discourage Western Allies from offering military support to Ukraine
and to instil fear in decision-makers. A long-held taboo that made an actual application of
nuclear force unthinkable has been verbally discarded. While many experts calculate that risk
to be low - not higher than five percent - Putin and his aides have chosen to abandon the
rational caution exercised by the majority of his Soviet predecessors.