Kathrine Frich
Getting civilians to settle in a war zone requires significant financial incentives.
When a city changes, you usually notice it in the small things.
Local shops close, quiet streets get emptier, and familiar neighbors slowly disappear over time.
But when an entire region loses half its population in a few short years, something far more deliberate is taking place behind the scenes.
Massive demographic collapse
Ukrainian intelligence officers recently revealed a staggering drop in population across occupied eastern Ukraine.
According to New Voice Ukraine the population in occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts fell by nearly one-third after Russian forces took control.
The longer trend looks even more dramatic. Around 7.37 million people lived in Donetsk and Luhansk back in 2001, but that number plummeted to just 3.75 million people by early 2024.
Ukrainian officials attributed the sharp decline to brutal war conditions, forced conscription, severe political repression, and shrinking medical care.
With no legal protection for their private property, millions of Ukrainian citizens felt they had no choice but to flee.
Massive population swap
While local residents escape, Moscow is actively replacing them with its own citizens. Defense officials reported that the Kremlin is moving vast numbers of Russian nationals directly into conquered towns and cities.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, up to 300,000 ethnic Russians were living in occupied Crimea by July 2026, with plans to resettle another 130,000 people in Sevastopol by 2042.
By 2024, about 200,000 ethnic Russians and 100,000 labor migrants from Central Asia moved into occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
Moscow now aims to boost the population of Mariupol and Kalmius from 228,000 to 518,000 by 2035 through heavy state-sponsored relocation.
Cash and land
Getting civilians to settle in a war zone requires significant financial incentives. Ukrainian intelligence officers reported that officials sent to manage the occupied territories receive double pay along with generous rental allowances.
These imported administrators can earn more than $5,000 every single month. That sum is more than eight times the average salary inside Russia.
Special state schemes also target teachers and rural doctors, requiring recruits to work in occupied Ukrainian territory for at least five years.
In return, the Kremlin hands them stolen real estate. In 2025, occupying forces in Crimea distributed about 4,000 seized land parcels directly to Russian military personnel.
Sources: Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR), New Voice Ukraine
