Kremlin resettling Russians in occupied Donbas, HUR says
REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
The population of Russia-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk
oblasts has fallen by nearly one-third because of Russian
occupation and related policies, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) said
in a statement on July 20.
Comparing the total population of the region with earlier data shows an even more dramatic decline: HUR said that about 7.37 million people lived in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2001, roughly 3.75 million remained by the start of 2024. The agency attributed the decline to war, repression, forced Russification, conscription, a deterioration of medical and social services and a lack of property-rights protection, which it said have driven Ukrainians to leave the temporarily occupied areas.
At the same time, the Kremlin is reportedly moving large numbers of Russian citizens into the occupied territories. HUR said that as of July 2026, some 200,000–300,000 ethnic Russians were in occupied Crimea and Sevastopol, and that Russian authorities plan to resettle another 130,000 Russians in Sevastopol by 2042.
HUR added that as of 2024, about 200,000 ethnic Russians and roughly 100,000 labor migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus were living in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. It added that about 10,000 more such migrants were registered in occupied Donetsk in the first months of 2026.
Ukrainian officers quoted by the agency said officials sent to administer the occupied territories receive double pay plus rental allowances. They said such officials can earn more than $5,000 a month (more than eight times the average salary in Russia).
State programs targeting professionals to be rural doctors and teachers require Russians recruited under those schemes to work in occupied Ukrainian lands for at least five years, HUR said. The agency also said Russians are being given housing and land seized from Ukrainians; in 2025, occupying forces in Crimea distributed about 4,000 land parcels to military personnel, Ukrainian officers said.
HUR said the Kremlin aims to boost the population of the
Mariupol and Kalmius districts from 228,000 to about 518,000 by 2035, largely
by relocating Russian citizens.
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