article of the week

Why this article?

This page was created by a graphic designer international mail, Katherine Doughty, for a special issue commemorating the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine. From several sources, he tries to estimate the loss of life and the amount of assistance provided to Ukraine.

These estimates are provided by the UNHCR (High Commissioner for Refugees, a UN dependent organization) or government sources such as the White House. If we must remain cautious about these figures, they nonetheless allow us to appreciate the magnitude of Ukrainian civilian casualties.

This infographic also presents the distribution of military aid to Ukraine. If we explicitly note the predominant place occupied by the United States, we also see that countries neighboring Ukraine and Russia, such as Poland or the Baltic states, do not hesitate to massively help Ukraine, which proves that these states fear a Russian victory. on their doorstep.

This infographic will allow students who want to work on the war in Ukraine as part of the oral exam to build on the numbers while highlighting the difficulties in assessing the war that is still going on. This reflection is part of Topic 2 on new forms of conflict in the terminal.

If only one quote were to be kept

“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 18,358 civilian casualties in Ukraine. But the real numbers may be much higher, the organization admits.

What is shocking when first reading this infographic is the significant number of civilian casualties, wounded or killed in Ukraine. If we compare this figure of 18,358 civilian casualties with the number of dead Russian soldiers (about 50,000), we understand that the forms of warfare have changed dramatically over the 20th century.e century.

The students studied Clausewitz’s theories earlier in the year: he predicted an inflation in the number of civilian casualties in what he called “Absolute War”. The scale of the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities shows that from now on, the goal of the Russian General Staff is not necessarily to win battles against the Ukrainian army on the ground, but rather to subjugate the Ukrainian government by forcing it to sign a peace treaty. .

We must also add to these human losses the exodus of Ukrainians forced to leave their country. If we calculate the total number of displaced persons inside and outside Ukraine, we get a considerable figure of 13 million people forced to leave their homes.

For further

  • Timeline of the war on five maps to visualize the turning points of the conflict. To deepen your reflections on this conflict, we invite you to also check out this set of five cards that present the timeline of the war in Ukraine.
  • This article from Spiegel shows the difficulty of counting the exact number of dead Russian soldiers, as the Kremlin tries to minimize its losses.
  • Finally, this analysis The newspaper “New York Times predicts a stalemate in the war and, consequently, an increase in the brutality of hostilities.

And what not to miss this week

This week we can also focus on this Israeli press review, which analyzes the conditions for the ongoing rapprochement between two rival Gulf states: Saudi Arabia and Iran. This press review is fully in line with the final axis of last year’s Theme 2: “The Middle East, Regional Conflicts and Peace Attempts”.