Press-release of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Turkey

          Regarding Kremlin’s Black Book

The war against Ukraine, started by the Russian Federation in February 2014, led to huge human, economic and infrastructural losses of Ukraine. Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Danylo Lubkivskyi stated this at a briefing on 17 February 2015 introducing the Kremlin’s Black Book, which outlines the current tentative information on crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian official stressed that the information was summed up as of early February 2015. "It is still impossible to find out the total value of victims and losses," he added.

"Step by step the Ukrainian central and local authorities will estimate the total value of losses," the Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine noted, "Accurate numbers will follow inevitably just as the international condemnation of the Putin’s regime."

 More than 5,000 people have been killed and up to 11,000 wounded as a result of Russian aggression by early February 2015. Updated numbers could be much higher, Danylo Lubkivskyi emphasized.

978,482 people were registered as internally displaced persons as of February 2, 2015. They fled from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine that suffered from the Russian troops and terrorists. Over 103,000 people requested medical help, 25,013 of them were hospitalized.

The Ukrainian official noted that every day Ukraine spends approximately 4 million dollars in order to conduct the counterterrorist operation and protect itself from Russian aggression, highlighting that as a result of Russian aggression Ukraine has undergone significant macroeconomic losses. In particular, the industrial production rates in 2014 reduced by 10.7%, including a decline of 31.5% and 42% in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions respectively. He noted that the losses of domestic iron and steel enterprises in 2014 were estimated at about 1.51 billion dollars, machine-building – about 380 million dollars.

Coal output rates decreased by 35% in Ukraine. Production of chemicals decreased by 47.5% in 2014 in the Donetsk region. There are significant losses in agriculture, transport and infrastructure in the occupied territories.

1,514 railway infrastructure facilities, 1,561 km of public roads, 28 air traffic

control facilities were damaged in Ukraine. As of 3 February 2015, more than 9,215 apartment buildings (over 12% of all residential structures) were destroyed or severely damaged in the Donetsk region. In addition, a number of gas pipelines were damaged. Thousands of people are left without water, heat, shelter.

"No victim will be forgotten," the Ukrainian official underlined, "Putin's regime must be stopped."