How Much does Russia Owe Now?

A little while ago we mentioned how much Russia owes in regard to the massive amount of mayhem and destruction that they have leveled on the country of Ukraine. We now have a more up-to-date assessment. This is the report:

The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion has reached almost an estimated $63 billion, according to an analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics.

Shocking images and videos have emerged in recent weeks showing just some of the devastation across Ukraine since Russian forces attacked on Feb. 24. Where businesses, homes, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure once stood, there are now massive piles of unrecognizable rubble and crumbling shells of concrete. (https://abcnews.go.com/International/cost-damage-ukraines-infrastructure-amid-russias-invasion/story?)

Personally, I thought that the cost would be much higher. The date that we can find would be March 28, thus today it would be a lot higher. Another report, dated May 4, states this:

Ukraine has lost up to $600 billion as a result of Russia’s invasion, with $92 billion of damage to its infrastructure, according to a study released by the Kyiv School of Economics on Tuesday, adding to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s initial estimates that Ukraine has lost more than half a trillion dollars since war broke out.

We don’t know the cost of the war from Russia’s standpoint, but if there were $600 billion in the Ukraine, perhaps with an additional $92 billion (if that is how we are to reckon this), for a total of $692 billion, we assume that Russia has lost $308 billion, for a total of $1 trillion lost financially. It could be much higher than this!

Of course, there have been many lives lost from both sides—both the Ukraine’s and Russia. One report said that Russia has lost some 1/3 of their military fighting force! I wonder how many of the Ukrainian’s soldiers have been slaughtered?

Now suppose that the whole of Russia as well as President Putin himself should want to repent of these atrocities, what comes next. Russia has some 140 million people, thus the war (so far) has cost this nation much for every man, woman, and child in this prominent country. We are not counting the number of casualties now, including the many dead. Suppose that there have been 5 million dead, wounded, and maimed—which would include some 4 million refugees in the Ukraine. If we were to say that each of these people represent one million dollars, we would have some 5 million times 1 million, which would be many dollars! I suppose this would be 5 trillion dollars. ($5,000,000,000,000!)

If Russia and her people, along with Putin, would want to repent and make restitution for these 5 trillion dollars, how would they ever pay for this?  If Russia were to fully repent and want to make restitution, how would this nation, with its size, pay for this vast amount? Suppose that they would want to move all of the debris away, erect new buildings, construct apartment buildings, build new bridges and railroads, construct new highways and streets, and bring back all of the refugees, just how would this be possible? Of course, this would probably bankrupt this country of 140 million people.

 

Russia might want to use all of their oil, all of their natural gas, all of their timber, and use this to make reparations for the Ukrainian damage that their military has caused. This could and should be done. But just how it can be done, we don’t know.

(If Russia should also want to make some sort of restitution for the millions slain in the past and the millions sent to Siberia, how much more would this be?)

In a special way, the murderous military would need to be punished in some way. And Putin and his compatriots would need to be punished. Just how, we don’t know. Scripture says that when a person kills another, that person would need to be killed himself. (See especially Genesis 9:6 and Acts 25:11.)

We refer to the time-honored principle of “lex talionis” which means: “the principle or law of retaliation that a punishment inflicted should correspond in degree and kind to the offense of the wrongdoer, as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; retributive justice.” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lex-talionis).

In view of this, even if some “supernatural” entity were to make sure that Putin and his thousands of other murderers were put to death, we still ask how is it possible for a nation to pay to the Ukraine 5 trillion dollars ($5,000,000,000,000)? What would God want?

We know that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4; cf. 2 Peter 3:9).