Propagandists in the Russian media spread information that the population of Ukraine has decreased to 20 million people. They refer to a statement by former adviser to the US Secretary of Defense Douglas McGregor on May 18. It's fake.

Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to it. They watched the relevant McGregor interview in its entirety and noticed that he actually made such a statement: “Yesterday I received evidence that less than 20 million people remained in Ukraine”. However, it is not known on the basis of what data the man made the following conclusions.

They also found out that the data is not true. According to the calculations of the UN Population Fund, 36.7 million people now live in Ukraine, taking into account the temporarily occupied territories. According to Ella Libanova, director of the MV Ptukh Institute of Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the population of Ukraine currently ranges from 28 to 34 million people, excluding the temporarily occupied territories. A more accurate number is currently impossible to establish due to inaccurate data regarding Ukrainians who crossed the border in western Ukraine.

Thus, propagandists want to artificially increase the scale of the problem and demoralize the Ukrainian population. Like, everything is so bad that it's time to end it all. However, the population of Ukraine is declining precisely because of the actions of the Russian army.