As the Russian-Ukrainian war enters its second year, more than 8 thousand people from both parties have been killed, and no less than 13,000 people were reported to have been injured, according to the Office of the #United_Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The US Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that the Russian military casualties exceeded 100,000 soldiers, a toll similar to the number of casualties incurred by the Ukrainian military. These are harrowing figures! Human losses are grave, and nothing can compensate for the sacrifices of around one-third of Ukrainian civilians who left their homes to flee the war and find a haven for their families. Not to mention the unspeakable economic losses.
No doubt that #Ukraine is by far the biggest sufferer economically casualty of the war. According to the latest estimates, #Ukraine's economic output has fallen by as much as 35 per cent. The country's infrastructure has suffered severe and long-term damage. Even with international economic assistance in the post-war period, production in #Ukraine would not return to its pre-war level until several decades later.
As for the economic losses outside the Ukrainian borders, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ) estimated that the Russian-Ukrainian war might cost the global economy around $2.8 trillion in production losses. Furthermore, it is still too early to assess the long-term effects of the war on the global economy. Since the start of the war, most #NATO and #European_Union members have provided direct financial, military, and humanitarian assistance amounting to more than $150 billion, of which the #United_States of #America alone contributed more than $75 billion .
Signs of resentment have begun to emerge in the #United_States due to the increasing costs of the war to the American taxpayers. Even the US media, which was spearheading the confrontation against #Russia, started questioning the war's course.
Michael McKenna wrote in Washington Times : "The line between providing 'assistance' and being an actual combatant nation is becoming very, very diaphanous." He added: "It would be one thing if we were one of many countries providing such military aid. The reality is that the Europeans have produced mostly conversation. The #United_States has given more to #Ukraine — about 50 per cent more — than every nation in #Europe combined."
There is no apparent winner in this war. The picture so far is dominated by ongoing destruction and bloodshed in a war that would have been nipped in the bud had the parties concerned shown responsibility in dealing with it early on. What is required of US President Joe #Biden's administration is to seek dialogue and find a peaceful solution.
Throughout history, #Uncle_Sam played the role of a big brother in resolving conflicts worldwide. The US administration is required to restore this role to save Ukrainian and Russian lives, and to reduce homelessness and starvation. The US administration must reconsider its actions and re-examine the possible consequences of the #Russia-#Ukraine conflict. As McKenna asked: "[H]ow they imagine this story ends beyond the Disney-like version in which #Ukraine 'wins' and everyone lives happily ever after[?]"
As uncertainty prevails, the media will go further in their campaigns against the US administration's policies in the #Russia-#Ukraine war. Both warring parties would continue to suffer from human losses, and the economic losses that the European and American peoples would groan from will increase.
#China has put forward an initiative to resolve the #Russia-#Ukraine conflict, calling for an immediate ceasefire. However, the #Biden administration was dismissive, and the initiative was aborted on the spot. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called for direct talks between the US and Russian presidents about the war in #Ukraine. The Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also warned that we are no longer in the 24th hour, but the 25th, to avoid an imminent nuclear war.
It all adds up to show that we might be on the verge of a great world war that could turn into a nuclear confrontation if peace does not immediately prevail at the Russian-Ukrainian front. Therefore, I call upon President #Biden to take a historical position and work to find a solution for the conflict and end the war; otherwise, thousands of intercontinental nuclear missiles would cross in the skies, and no countries, not even the #United_States, would be spared.