Ukraine and Russia have lost about one million people killed and wounded in war - WSJ
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the losses of the Armed Forces and the Russian army have amounted to approximately one million people.
According to Censor.NET, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Citing sources, the publication notes that Ukraine could have lost 80,000 people killed and another 400,000 wounded. At the same time, according to Western intelligence estimates, the Russian army has lost almost 200,000 killed and about 400,000 wounded in the 2.5 years of war.
"These losses pose problems for Russia as it uses waves of poorly trained soldiers to try to make headway in eastern Ukraine while trying to counter Ukraine's recent incursion into the Kursk region. But they are causing significant damage to Ukraine, whose population is less than a quarter of that of its giant neighbour," the newspaper notes.
The WSJ notes that the growing casualties on both sides will have a long-term effect on countries that were already struggling with population decline before the full-scale war.
600,000 people have fled Russia
One of the reasons for Russia' s invasion in 2022 was an attempt to increase the size of the Russian population with Ukrainians. Russia's invasion and occupation of the territory over the past decade has resulted in Ukraine losing at least 10 million people who have been occupied or become refugees.
Putin sought to address the demographic decline in Russia, and to do so, the Kremlin launched a campaign to Russify the occupied territories. This included the abduction of children and the distribution of Russian passports to Ukrainians. Putin has repeatedly stated his desire to bring Ukraine back under Moscow's control, denying Ukrainian identity and statehood.
In turn, more than 600,000 people, mostly young and promising professionals, left Russia after 24 February 2022. Also, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the flow of migrant workers in Russia has significantly decreased or completely stopped. This has exacerbated the labour shortage in Russia
Demographic problems of Ukraine
The Russian attack had a catastrophic impact on the population of Ukraine. The 2001 census counted 48 million inhabitants. According to Ukrainian demographers and government officials, this number had fallen to 40 million in early 2022, before Russia's invasion. Since the start of the war in February 2022, according to the UN, more than 6 million people have fled Ukraine and Russia has seized new land, bringing the total population in Kyiv-controlled territory to 25-27 million.
Oleksandr Hladun, a researcher at the Ptukha Institute of Demography, believes that before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine had 42 million people, and afterwards, it was about 29 million.
"The effect could be long-lasting. Along with the military deaths, Ukraine's birth rate has also fallen to its lowest level on record, with three times as many people dying as being born in the first half of this year, according to government figures. About 250,000 deaths and more than 87,000 births were recorded during this period, down 9% from the same period last year," the WSJ notes.
As a reminder, on the morning of 17 September, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the total combat losses of the Russian Federation since the beginning of the war amounted to about 635,880 people.
