Ukraine latest: Difficult war, reconstruction and hope for the future

'There is already talk of beginning reconstruction, even as the toll on Ukraine’s population and infrastructure rises.'

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A rescuer and a service dog inspect the debris at the site of a destroyed residential building following an aerial bomb in Kharkiv (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Ukraine’s latest intelligence assessment its troops are involved in around 120 combat engagements per day, all along the eastern front.

The grinding war has claimed the lives of at least 31,000 of Kyiv’s armed forces, injured thousands more and killed tens of thousands of civilians.

Conservative estimates for rebuilding projects in almost the entire country rest, for the moment, at just below £500 billion and counting, with continuous strikes.

Russia continues to pour troops into battle along the eastern front, waging ferocious battles on Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv and its surrounding region on the north eastern border.

And still, staggeringly, there is already talk of beginning reconstruction, even as the toll on Ukraine’s population and infrastructure rises.

Many believe attacks on cities such as Kharkiv are largely symbolic, Russian commanders desperate to tell President Vladimir Putin they are gaining ground.

But they have, according to my sources within Kyiv’s military, lost as many as 538,060 troops since the February 22, 2022 largely failed invasion.