TRANSCRIPT
The Ukraine war has devastated the country, dealt severe costs to Russia, and choked the global economy.
It's now been two years of the daily lives of Ukrainians being upended by the invasion - Russia's so-called 'special military operation'.
According to the United Nations, there have been more than 10,000 civilian deaths and almost 20,000 people injured.
Close to four million people have also been displaced internally within Ukraine.
Six million have fled to countries across the globe.
An extra seven million have also be cast into poverty, because of the war.
Associate Professor William Partlett of the University of Melbourne says the toll of the war can only be described as catastrophic.
"It will take, you know, I think, a generation to restore Ukrainian democracy, to rebuild the Ukrainian economy and to kind of rebuild the human aspect of life and the quality of life in in Ukraine, following this just catastrophic invasion. It's going to require hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars to reconstruct to rebuild the Ukrainian cities to rebuild the Ukrainian economy, Ukraine has lost by some estimates almost 10 million people have left."
As for the scale of military casualties, for both sides that's considered a tightly held secret.
But Dr Charles Miller of the Australian National University says estimates have far surpassed tens of thousands of losses for both sides.
“We've seen estimates saying Russia has suffered over 100,000 military casualties, Ukraine perhaps somewhat less than that but nevertheless tens of thousands so I mean these are casualty figures that for example dwarf what Western forces suffered during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though the war in Ukraine has not been going on for anything like as long as these conflicts did.”
After months of Russia's bombardment, Ukraine damage bill has reached at least $155 billion dollars, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Almost 250,000 homes reported damage or were destroyed, as well as thousands of schools and medical facilities.
But Professor Partlett says the economic impacts of the war - including the disruption of supply lines for products like wheat and sanctions imposed on Russia - have been felt far from the front line.
“You know the sanctions are significantly impoverishing and slowing down the Russian economy, so we're going to see as this war goes on and these sanctions remain in place, the continued pressures on inflation and on the world economy. And the longer those sanctions are in place the more damage is done to the Russian economy as well.”
Western support has been critical to Ukraine's fight.
The total spent is now estimated at $73.6 billion.
Almost one billion of that came from Australia, alongside 120 Bushmaster vehicles pledged to assist the war effort.
Dr Miller says the support - especially miltary aid from the United States - is seen as crucial to ensuring Ukraine isn't outgunned by Russian forces, even with the conflict in the midst of a winter stalement.
“Western support is really essential for Ukraine to maintain, for Ukraine to even maintain what it currently has. And I think there is lots of plausible scenarios in which there are pretty serious changes to the status quo. The priority for the international community now is to make sure as much of Ukraine's territory is in the hands of the legitimate government of Ukraine.”
The cost of rebuilding the war torn nation already estimated at over a trillion dollars, based on forecasts by the World Bank.
