Six months on, a look at the cost of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Six months ago, Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine on a “special military operation” — a mass invasion on a scale unseen in Europe since World War Two.

Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled and cities have been reduced to rubble by Russia's relentless bombardment.

Russia was widely perceived to have been preparing to claim a quick victory in Ukraine, but hopes of swiftly overthrowing Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pro-Western government soon evaporated.  Six months on, many analysts expect the conflict to be a long, grinding “war of attrition” that causes widespread