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At a time when many Americans are undergoing economic challenges due to inflation as well as a general sense of malaise and often even foreboding with COVID-19 still lingering, the holiday period and coming New Year are a fitting time to look outside our own circle to see how others in the world are faring. In Eastern Europe, hundreds of thousands of families are at this moment dealing with the death or maiming of family members and dear friends.
Millions of Americans trace their own family history to the lands of Eastern Europe. The Russian invasion and war in Ukraine, ongoing for more than 10 months, has killed at least 200,000 people. The U.S. military estimates that over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and approximately the same number of Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded. We do not yet know how many civilians in Ukraine have been killed, but the number is likely at least several tens of thousands.
The war has caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Out of a population in Ukraine of 45 million before the war, about 8 million have fled to neighboring countries in Europe, and about the same number have been displaced internally within the country. Residents of cities throughout Ukraine are forced periodically to find shelter from incoming Russian missiles, and millions must cope with frequent outages of electricity and water, the result of intentional Russian attacks against urban infrastructure.
The war is being pursued by Russia’s President Vladmir Putin, who has near dictatorial power, and the vast majority of Russia’s political elite appear to support the war.
