The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine have been a popular topic. Especially the conflict that is still ongoing.  Just recently, as of Wednesday, January 10 2024 according to CNBC two Russian missiles have been launched into Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. The missiles hit a hotel injuring 11 people according to authorities. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected an idea of a cease fire further commenting that it will give Moscow time to replenish weapon stocks.

We can see how life changing this war has been for the people of Ukraine.  According to The international rescue committee we can see that Ukraine civilians are not in the safest conditions there has been almost 23,000 casualties since February 24 2022.

I can agree with Doherty freshman Braydon Moyer when he stated, “ It’s sad with a lot of tragedy.  I just hope it gets resolved soon.” However, some people think differently. For example josue thinks “ The US should get involved physically not just financially.” Both of these people are students at Doherty high school. I get the intention that it is still a sensitive topic to speak with people about this could have deeply affected people.

Making it rough for civilians to access food and water. While also causing catastrophic damage to the infrastructure of Ukraine targeting hospitals and schools. In the same article from the international rescue committee  it states: “Missile strikes have damaged approximately 50% of Ukraine’s power grid, and the overall damage to energy infrastructure in Ukraine is estimated to add up to at least US $10 billion.

”These are shocking statistics. It is gonna take a lot of money for Ukraine to recover while also the damage to their buildings alone from the strikes as well. On top of that the destruction of water sources leaving “16 million people without access to clean and sanitized water,” increasing the risk of a waterborne illness, causing “5.9 million refugees from Ukraine across Europe” trying to escape the disastrous conditions in their country. This is terrible for a bunch of reasons nobody should be forced to leave their home. However Braydon brought up a good point “ I think that the refugees are going to overpopulate areas.”

We can assume that most of these people are women and children. Let’s look more into the lilies for women and children and how some of them still live in these dreadful conditions. Thanks to the The international rescue committee And their deep dive on this subject it states that “Children forced to flee Ukraine have had their lives uprooted, education interrupted and are in some cases have even been separated from their families.”

Now that we can support the decision to get the children to a safe environment . However can still have detrimental effects on the children mentally being separated from your family due to a disaster like this. It is truly horrific also combined with interrupted education can cause psychological harm to the children. Also according to CNN “ Nearly one every 10 hospitals in Ukraine have been damaged by attacks since the Russian invasion ”.

This map shows most of the attacks in Ukrainian hospitals courtesy of  The international rescue committee , These attacks are horrific, possibly causing most of the death rate for most of the war. However i agree with braydon when he stated that “russia is known for not following rules during wars so perhaps bombing a hospital wouldn’t be to horrific for them.” So i would keep this in mind while we wait to see what comes next.

Resources:   The international rescue committee , CNN ,CNBC