A million dead and wounded: WSJ predicted a demographic catastrophe in Ukraine and Russia
Date: 2024-09-17 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WAR
The number of Ukrainians and Russians killed or wounded over 2.5 years of war has reached approximately 1 million people. At the same time, the number of civilian deaths remains unknown, since more than 8,000 people died during the capture of Mariupol by the Russians alone, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a confidential Ukrainian estimate earlier this year put the number of Ukrainian troops killed at 80,000 and wounded at 400,000. Western intelligence estimates of Russian casualties vary, with some putting the death toll at nearly 200,000 and wounded at around 400,000.
One of Vladimir Putin's motivations for launching an invasion in 2022 is to increase Russia's population by absorbing Ukrainians. The government and demographers estimate that as a result of Russia's invasions and occupations of Ukrainian territory over the past 10 years, Ukraine has lost at least 10 million people to occupation or as refugees.
Putin has long made solving Russia's chronic demographic decline a priority, and the Kremlin has since launched a campaign to Russify the occupied territories, including kidnapping children and handing out Russian passports to Ukrainians.
Modern Ukraine was once part of the Russian Empire, and Putin has repeatedly said he seeks to return the country to Moscow's rule. He denies Ukrainian identity and statehood, and claims that Ukrainians are part of the Russian nation.
The war has had a devastating impact on Russia's domestic demographics and labor market. More than 600,000 Russians have fled the country since the full-scale invasion began, mostly young professionals who could afford to move to other countries and start new lives.
The Russian attack has had a catastrophic impact on Ukraine's population. The 2001 census counted 48 million residents. That figure had fallen to 40 million in early 2022, before Russia invaded, according to Ukrainian demographers and government officials. Since the war began in February 2022, more than 6 million people have fled Ukraine and Russia has seized new lands, according to the United Nations, reducing the total population in Kiev-controlled territory to 25-27 million.
Alexander Gladun, a research fellow at the Ptukha Institute of Demography, believes that before the full-scale invasion there were 42 million people in Ukraine, and after - about 29 million.
