Population of Luhansk region declines by 40% under Russian occupation - National Resistance Centre

The National Resistance Centre reported the information.

"According to the occupiers, the population of the temporarily occupied territories in the Luhansk region is 1.5 million people. This figure is lower by 40% or one million people, than the population at the time when the first territories were occupied by Russia in 2014," the statement said.

The National Resistance Centre noted that the downward trend in population continues.

"The depopulation of the region is accompanied by the settlement of Russians, brainwashing of children and mass mobilisation of ethnic Ukrainians for the war against their native state. At the same time, the enemy is actively deporting the population under the guise of evacuation and pursuing a policy of filtration, when people are forcibly taken away from their villages," the Centre said.

They stressed that all of the above are war crimes under the Rome Statute, so the perpetrators will be held accountable.

• Training centres for teenagers who may potentially serve on the front lines are being established in the Luhansk region. Additionally, in October, the mobilisation of students began in the temporary occupied territories of the Luhansk region.