THE POPULATION SIZE AND THE SHARE OF UKRAINIANS IN IT ON THE OCCUPATION-FREE AND THE RUSSIAN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF KHERSON AND ZAPORIZHZHIA OBLASTS

Abstract

The study of ethnic processes in Ukraine is an important task of Ukrainian studies. In the context of the russian-Ukrainian war, it is especially urgent to refute russian mythologemes about the ethnic structure of the Ukrainian population. The article determines the area of the occupation-free and occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, taking into account the administrative-territorial structure according to the 2020 reform. The dynamics of the population of these territories is established based on the statistical materials of the 2001 All-Ukrainian Population Census, statistical data at the time of the 2020 administrative-territorial reform, and information from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regional military administrations on the population in 2024. Despite the fact that most of the territories of these regions were occupied, the smaller areas that were free of russian aggression in 2024 and had regional centers were home to the majority of the population of these regions before the russian aggression. The author proves that Ukrainians constitute an absolute majority in the ethnic composition of the population of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, among the urban and rural population, and among the population of all its districts. Therefore, the russian claims to the territory of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are groundless and insignificant in terms of the arguments for the annexation of the territories inhabited by Ukrainians in these southern regions of Ukraine. The directions and consequences of the Russian imperial policy on the occupied Ukrainian lands require further special research, as well as the introduction of criminal responsibility for the war crimes of the Russian invaders and collaborators on the part of Ukrainian and international justice.