Ukraine

Casualties of war: Despair as fallout of Putin’s invasion now grows wider

The ongoing conflict is destroying lives not only in Ukraine but also in Russia – where citizens are fleeing or going into hiding to avoid being forced to fight in Putin’s war, while here, Ukrainians fear the refugee system can no longer cope

Svetlana Shumova: ‘Life in Moscow was booming. Now it’s all gone — it’s destroyed.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

Lying in bed in Dublin last Wednesday morning, Svetlana Shumova read a headline on her phone that made her worst fears a reality: “Putin announces partial mobilisation and threatens nuclear retaliation.”

“It was 9am, and everyone was just waiting for Putin to make his speech,” Shumova told the Business Post. “It was just awful. I can’t operate normally since.”

Russia has been convulsed in the last week by its president’s announcement that he needed 300,000 ...