Russia deepening demographic crisis and changing population composition in occupied territories of Ukraine - Defense Intelligence of Ukraine

Russia, the aggressor state, continues its policy of ethnocide in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories (TOT), as evidenced by low birth rates, high mortality rates, and changes in the ethnic and national composition of the population. This is stated in a report by the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The Defense Intelligence emphasized that moscow continues to actively increase the proportion of the non-Ukrainian population by settling the occupied territories with immigrants from the russian federation and citizens of other states—primarily from Central Asia, Africa, and the Caucasus. To this end, moscow employs:

• long-term appointments of russian officials to the occupation administrations;
• targeted placement of people from the russian federation to work in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for a 5-year term under state programs;
• preferential mortgage lending for migrants in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Regions;
• the provision of land plots to migrants from the russian federation in Crimea (approximately 4,000 people by 2025) and the Kherson Region.

Meanwhile, according to the Defense Intelligence, the demographic situation in the occupied territories is rapidly deteriorating. Thus, by the end of 2025, the natural population growth in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk Region stood at -9.9‰ (a decrease of about 10 people per 1,000 of the population)—this is 2.4 times worse than the average rate in russia.

The number of deaths among working-age adults in the occupied part of the Donetsk Region in 2025 was 10,900, and the mortality rate for this demographic group was 6.8‰, exceeding global averages.

Overall, mortality from injuries and external causes last year stood at 146.1 per 100,000 population, with over 83% of the deceased being of working age.

"The genocidal war and the deliberate criminal policy of the aggressor state, Russia, are leading to the gradual displacement of the local population and changes in the demographic and ethno-national composition of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," the intelligence report emphasized.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, according to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the aggressor state russia has prepared a media campaign in Ukraine and Europe aimed against the Ukrainian government and mobilization efforts.