First of all, high energy costs caused growth in Germany to decline by 2.5 percentage points or €100 billion in 2022 and by a similar amount in 2023, however, these are only direct financial costs, further costs will arise from escalation of geopolitical and geo-economic conflicts, especially with China due to the war. This will hit export companies especially hard - Head of German Institute for Economic Research Fratzscher.

One platoon commander estimated that just 60-70% of several thousand men in brigade at start of conflict are still serving. The rest had been killed, wounded or signed off for reasons such as old age or illness - reveals the article.