According to a report published on June 16 by the Center for Economic Strategy (CES), the economic losses from Russia’s illegal occupation of the Crimean peninsula since 2014 has amounted to at least $135 billion.
“This is the first comprehensive assessment of Ukraine’s losses from Russia’s temporary occupation of the Crimean Peninsula,” said Dmitry Goryunov, a senior economist at the center.
Estimating Ukrainian losses is important to “compensate for these losses through international courts, obliging the Russian Federation to pay the appropriate amounts or seizing the assets of involved in the occupation individuals in Ukraine or even abroad,” noted CES.
However, this is only a minimal proven estimate of Ukraine’s economic losses. The $135 billion total only comprises the amount of direct loss of assets.
According to the report, the sum includes:
$55.3 billion of minerals and land; $42.7 billion of residential real estate; $18.4 billion of business losses; $15.7 billion of losses of state enterprises: energy companies, transport infrastructure facilities; $2.7 billion of losses of banks (Ukrainian banks on the peninsula have lost their assets; the largest of them were nationalized by the occupiers).
Due to the Kremlin’s occupation, which followed a military invasion, Ukraine lost about 4.5% of its total area, which corresponds to 27,000 kilometers, including 755,000 hectares of farmable land area lost as a result of the occupation is estimated at about $3 billion.
Among the business industries lost were electricity generation and distribution, gas distribution, processing, and construction.
Among the largest state-owned companies lost were energy companies Chornomornaftogaz and the Feodosiya Petroleum Supply Company.
The assessment does not include the macroeconomic consequences of the occupation.
