MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Ukraine's irrecoverable losses on the frontline have climbed to above half a million, the country's former prime minister, Nikolay Azarov (in office in 2010-2014), has said.
"Ukraine's irrecoverable losses on the frontline have exceeded half a million. One million will be the point of no return. This figure is not as far away as some may think. Beyond that level the Ukrainians will have no chances of self-recovery," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Azarov pointed to the negative impact of the armed conflict on the next generation of Ukrainians that has already manifested itself: in particular, the birth rate in the country almost halved in 2021-2023. The former prime minister warns that "in 2035-2037 the share of the age group of the population under 18 years will be 12-15% in contrast to 25% in 1993," with even fewer children to be born in the next generation.
Another problem for Ukraine, Azarov says, is the exodus of Ukrainian women aged 18-34.
"The longer the conflict continues, the deeper and wider the demographic gap in Ukraine will grow," he added.
Many politicians and experts have long speculated about the demographic crisis in Ukraine. Earlier, the rector of the Kiev School of Economics, Timofey Brik, said that Ukraine’s population recently shrank to 25 million from 36 million. Already now local analysts have noted a shortage of workers in various sectors of the economy. In particular, as Alexey Leonov, a member of the Verkhovna Rada committee on finance and customs policy, said in February, the number of employees in the private sector had dropped by almost 40% over the past two years.