Perspective on the numbers in Ukraine (1 Viewer)

[NWRatCon]

Ukraine is about the size of Texas, but has a population larger than any State in the United States, 43 million. That's the equivalent of California and Oregon, combined.

So far, 3.5 million have fled the country to neighbouring countries - about the entire population of Connecticut or Utah. An Indiana's worth of Ukrainians is internally displaced - 6.5 million.

Kyiv, at 2.9 million residents, is slightly larger than Chicago, at 2.6 million. Mariupol, which has been leveled, had a pre-war population equivalent to Minneapolis.

To put this in concrete terms, imagine if Canada had invaded the upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana). They have already annexed Michigan's upper peninsula, and Green Bay.

Since the war started, they've occupied St. Paul and are shelling Minneapolis into oblivion. The entire population of Wisconsin has fled to Mexico and all of Indiana has moved into neighbouring parts of Illinois. Detroit is surrounded already and under constant bombardment; Chicago is being threatened with encirclement; Gary, Indiana is facing an amphibious assault.

That's what Ukraine has already endured.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Ukraine is about the size of Texas, but has a population larger than any State in the United States, 43 million. That's the equivalent of California and Oregon, combined.

So far, 3.5 million have fled the country to neighbouring countries - about the entire population of Connecticut or Utah. An Indiana's worth of Ukrainians is internally displaced - 6.5 million.

Kyiv, at 2.9 million residents, is slightly larger than Chicago, at 2.6 million. Mariupol, which has been leveled, had a pre-war population equivalent to Minneapolis.

To put this in concrete terms, imagine if Canada had invaded the upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana). They have already annexed Michigan's upper peninsula, and Green Bay.

Since the war started, they've occupied St. Paul and are shelling Minneapolis into oblivion. The entire population of Wisconsin has fled to Mexico and all of Indiana has moved into neighbouring parts of Illinois. Detroit is surrounded already and under constant bombardment; Chicago is being threatened with encirclement; Gary, Indiana is facing an amphibious assault.

That's what Ukraine has already endured.

Using your geographic analogy, the surrounding states (and countries) have unanimously decided not to intervene other than by offering ‘defensive’ weapons and humanitarian aid. They hope that Canada will be content to take only those (5) US states, and some have decided to live without (sanctioned) Canadian imports - which includes about half of current US crude oil imports.

 

[MamboDervish]

Gary, Indiana is facing an amphibious assault.

Thanks for the perspective. All very tragic to be sure. But have you ever been to Gary Indiana? An amphibious assault might improve it.

 

[Rogue Valley]

When I first went to Ukraine, I was struck by the urban/rural contrast.

The population structure in Ukraine goes like this.....

City (750,000+), City of significance (150,000+), Town (~50,000), Village (~15,000), Settlement (less than 5,000).

Particularly impressive are the wheat and sunflower fields that seem to go on forever. The sunflower heads are larger than a man's head.

Just because.....

At holidays and festivals, Ukrainian women wear an embroidered blouse which is called a vyshyvanka. Ukrainians can tell which part of the country someone is from by the embroidery pattern/color on the blouse.

Unmarried Ukrainian women and girls also wear a band of flowers in their hair with ribbons called a vinok. The flowers are usually real. There is an art to all of this.

Vyshyvanka and vinok.

 

[NWRatCon]

I just think we sometimes have difficulty realizing just how devastating this war already is. Imagine the Shedd Aquarium a smoldering ruin, the bridges blown up over the Chicago River to prevent the invasion of downtown, and Lakeshore Drive mined and the beaches covered in sandbags. Putting ourselves in the shoes of those suffering, and equating our cultural icons with theirs helps us picture it.

I used Minnesota instead of Ohio to keep the populations roughly equivalent, but the landmass would be more like MN, MI, WI, with the great lakes representing the Black Sea and Sea of Azov (although the Black Sea is twice as big as all the Great Lakes combined), to get a clearer picture of the coastline involved. Milwaukee/Kenosha would equal Odesa in size, Missouri could substitute for Belarus. It would take both North and South Dakota to represent Poland, size-wise and Iowa the Baltic States.

 

[NWRatCon]

When I first went to Ukraine, I was struck by the urban/rural contrast.

The population structure in Ukraine goes like this.....

City (750,000+), City of significance (150,000+), Town (~50,000), Village (~15,000), Settlement (less than 5,000).

Particularly impressive are the wheat and sunflower fields that seem to go on forever. The sunflower heads are larger than a man's head.

Just because.....

At holidays and festivals, Ukrainian women wear an embroidered blouse which is called a vyshyvanka. Ukrainians can tell which part of the country someone is from by the embroidery pattern/color on the blouse.

Unmarried Ukrainian women and girls also wear a band of flowers in their hair with ribbons called a vinok. The flowers are usually real. There is an art to all of this.

Vyshyvanka and vinok.

I had the same rural/urban impression when I was in South Korea. Until I was there, I had no idea of the cultural history going back 7 Centuries or more, nor the regional differences.