The EU is running out of Ukrainians to kill Russians, so they’re going to pay poors from the Global South to kill Russians for them. Ukraine’s population has collapsed from 52 million in 1991, to about 20 million today. https://t.co/33gOCPWHOc
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) June 13, 2026
An excerpt from, "Demographic catastrophe: Ukraine’s remaining population has been revealed" prm.ua, May 10, 2026:
Social Policy Minister Denys Ulyutin estimated the population of Ukraine living in government-controlled territory at 22-25 million.
The minister made this statement while speaking to journalists. “This is a disaster,” Ulyutin noted.
An excerpt from, "Reversing Ukraine's Population Loss After Four Years of War" by Nataliia Bushkovska, Think Global Health, February 24, 2026:
In 1991, when Ukraine gained independence, its population was 52.1 million. During this period, migration was from former Soviet blocs, primarily involving people with Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar heritage.
By the time Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the population had dropped more than 10% to 45.9 million. "The decline in birth rates in Ukraine reflected broader European trends," said Olga Dukhnich, head of the Demography and Migration program at the Frontier Institute. "Since the second half of the twentieth century, people across Europe have been having fewer children. The 1990s were also years of crisis, which inevitably affected population growth."
Even before the 2022 invasion, excess mortality in Ukraine was particularly pronounced among men of conscription age, 25 to 49 years old. During the full-scale war, the death rate has increased even more, especially within these age groups. This trend is driven by combat losses as well as civilian deaths caused by shelling.
Marchak emphasized that because of low birth rates and mass emigration, Ukraine's population is rapidly aging. Shushpanov said it is also valuable to account for indirect deaths. For example, at the start of the invasion, many people died because they could not receive medical care in time. Given their high levels of stress, people are developing illnesses they might never have developed if not for the war—such as cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune disorders, and cancer.