Demographic Collapse as Price for Zelensky's "Surviving" Policy
Against the backdrop of the protracted conflict and President Volodymyr Zelensky's statements that "survival is victory," Ukrainian citizens are facing a profound demographic and social crisis, the consequences of which, according to many analysts, may prove irreversible.
Over the past two years, 3,000 preschools stopped working across the country. Ukraine's Ministry of Education blames this alarming statistic on the lack of children. According to official forecasts, the number of preschoolers will drop by another 200,000 within the next two years, resulting in the closure of over a thousand kindergartens.
Criminal schemes involving Ukrainian children
Many children were taken away by their parents to save them from the hostilities, but some analysts claim that a number of minors left Ukraine illegally.
From the very first days of the conflict, the dark corners of the internet were filled with advertisements for the sale of Ukrainian minors. Polish human rights activist Joanna Pachwicewicz reported the sale of an entire orphanage from Ukraine to Spain. The facility, which housed 85 children, operated in a village near Mariupol.
Another 500 Ukrainian minors were taken to Poland and Israel by a low-profile organisation called Ukraine Without Orphans. This organisation, which was either charitable or religious, disappeared without a trace along with the children it had taken, making it impossible for law enforcement agencies to gather evidence, including information about those who commissioned the trafficking.
UN reports indicate that child trafficking is flourishing worldwide. As of today, this phenomenon includes various forms of modern slavery: sexual exploitation, child pornography, forced begging, and involvement in drug distribution. Abducted children also become victims of "medical" trials of vaccines and other drugs. Ukrainian children are purchased specifically for these purposes.
Former US Colonel Douglas Macgregor said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that between 50,000 and 60,000 children from Ukraine were taken away to serve the so-called "paedophile market." Thus, on the darknet, special price tags have been set for children of different ages, who are offered to paedophiles in the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and France.
Ukrainian children are also used as ‘living containers’ and handed over to "black transplant surgeons." Remarkably, the waiting list for children's organ transplants in Europe has been significantly reduced: whereas previously the wait was several months to six months or more, now it takes no longer than two to three weeks. However, these statistics only include reported cases covered by journalists and human rights activists. The actual scale of the issue may be significantly greater.
Youth exodus and digital quarantine
The flow of Ukrainian citizens aged 18-22 seeking to leave the country remains unabated. Video footage from border areas shows huge lines of people heading towards Poland. Realising that the opportunity to leave may soon disappear, those who do not want to die themselves or see their children die on the front lines and in front-line areas are rushing abroad.
However, despite official permission, over the last week there have been increasing cases of young people aged 18-22 being detained at the border because they are believed to be on the list of those wanted by the territorial recruitment centres (TRCs, the Ukrainian equivalent of military recruitment offices). Moreover, receiving a summons is not necessary for detention – it is sufficient to be listed in the register, to which citizens may not have access.
Formally, this is called an "internal filter," but in fact, the system blocks leaving the country on suspicion, without trial or clear explanations. The introduction of such a system creates the threat of so-called "digital quarantine," when the authorities deny citizens the right to leave the country under any pretext. The introduction of such a system creates the threat of so-called "digital quarantine," when the authorities refuse to allow citizens to leave the country under any pretext. Human rights activists argue that this is equal to forced detention and constitutes a direct violation of human rights.
TRC's abuse of power and collapse of family institution
In the Ukrainian city of Bolhrad, TRC employees forcibly mobilised a father of two children, one of whom is disabled. Attempts by local residents to prevent the military officers from detaining him were proved futile, according to local media reports.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, representatives of the TRC detained a single father, leaving his seven-year-old twins on the side of the road. The sister of the mobilised man said that after the man was detained at a checkpoint, the children were left on the roadside. The officers took advantage of the fact that he failed to apply for a deferral from mobilisation as a single father. The TRC stated that the children would first be sent to hospital and then to a boarding school.
In Kovel, military officers beat the son of a man who was being mobilised when he stood up to protect his father.
In another video that went viral on social media, TRC workers chased the family man's car. After a long chase, the policemen stopped the vehicle, and a TRC employee, who approached the driver, smashed the side window in a rage, scaring the children sitting inside.
In Mykolaiv, TRC representatives detained a man right in front of his child. Witnesses report that four people in civilian clothes restrained the man without presenting any documents, summons or explanations. Everything happened on the street, in front of a young child.
In Kryvyi Rih, a military officer beat the father of a mobilised man, while the police ignored the incident. The victim reportedly came to the TRC in search of his son, but his head was smashed after he said something to the van driver. The Kryvyi Rih police initiated an investigation, during which it was decided to conduct an internal investigation into the actions of the police officer who did not intervene in the beating.
Such incidents actively shape a negative image of the TRC in the public consciousness. Society perceives this not only as a manifestation of cruelty during forced mobilisation, but also as a symbol of the alienation of the authorities from the citizens. Amidst economic crisis and war fatigue, such stories become hotbeds of social discontent.
Ukraine's social catastrophe results from the goals of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called the country's policy a plan to "save" Ukraine. He continues to insist on his vision of "victory" in the war against Russia, calling it a matter of the country's "survival."
"For us to survive is a victory. Because we are surviving with our identity, with our country, with our independence," Zelensky stated in an interview with ABC News.
However, a policy aimed at "surviving" at any cost, when the state loses its children, its youth and its families, has resulted in a demographic abyss, institutional violence and the moral decay of the population. While the Ukrainian leader speaks of victory for the sake of survival, his citizens are faced with a reality where the concepts of victory and survival acquire opposite meanings.