As of January 2023, Ukraine’s population ranged from 28 to 34 million people, according to Ukraine’s Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies. Temporarily occupied territories are not included in the calculations. The United Nations Population Fund meanwhile cited a figure of 36.7 million people, taking into account the temporarily occupied territories.
Russian media outlets and social media users are disseminating false information claiming that Ukraine’s population has decreased to 20 million people. These claims refer to a statement made by a former advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense Douglas Macgregor.
“Yesterday, I received evidence that there are fewer than 20 million people left in Ukraine,” the Russian website RIA Novosti announced, citing a May 18 interview with Macgregor on the right wing Judge Napolitano – Judging Freedom YouTube channel.
StopFake reviewed Macgregor’s interview in its entirety, and he did indeed say that he received such evidence. However, he never explained what the evidence was, where it came from and the exact facts on which his pronouncement was based. Despite this, Russian propaganda decided that Macgregor’s unsubstantiated claim was sufficient and began presenting the information he provided as true, stating that it was “reported in the USA.”
The Ukrainian population figures that Douglas Macgregor announced, however, are not true. According to the United Nations Population Fund, as of 2023 some 36.7 million people live in Ukraine, including the temporarily occupied territories. These figures are published on the Fund’s official website.
Efforts were made in Ukraine to determine its 2023 population size. According to Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies director Ella Libanova, the population ranges from 28 to 34 million people, excluding the temporarily occupied territories. Libanova says that providing a more precise figure is impossible because of inaccurate data regarding the number of Ukrainians who crossed the Western Ukrainian border and the border with Moldova.
StopFake has previously debunked Douglas Mcgregor’s claims that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are in critical condition. Former US Army colonel and Trump appointee Macgregor has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while appearing on the right wing Fox news channel and said that Russia should be allowed to take as much Ukrainian territory as it wants. Macgregor has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “puppet,” prompting former member of Congress Liz Cheney to call him “the Putin wing” of the Republican Party. He is a regular guest on Russian state media, as well as the far-right media in the United States.
