According to the United Nations, Ukraine’s population has dropped by 10 million since the Russian invasion began

Ukraine’s population has fallen by 10 million, or about a quarter, since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Florence Bauer, head of the United Nations Population Fund for Eastern Europe, said on Oct. 22, citing an outflow of refugees, falling birthrates and casualties from fighting.

“The direct impact of the war was felt in areas that were almost depopulated because of the war, villages where only the elderly remained,” Bauer said at a press conference in Geneva, while noting that an accurate and complete count would only be possible after the war was over. .

Reuters notes that Ukraine had a population of more than 50 million at the time of the collapse of the USSR in 1991, and today the demographic situation in the country has worsened. According to the media, in 2021, before the Russian military invasion, about 40 million people lived in Ukraine.

In the early morning of February 24, 2022, Russia’s attack on Ukraine began, missiles were fired at airports and military infrastructure in at least 25 Ukrainian cities. The attack followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a “special operation” to “demilitarize” Ukraine.