CNN: "The Land of Widows and Orphans" — Since the beginning of the conflict, Ukraine has lost 10 million people

In Ukraine, the birth rate is falling sharply, more and more people are becoming infertile or postponing the decision to have children. At the same time, losses at the front are growing, and millions of refugees have settled abroad, CNN writes.

"This is a disaster. No country can exist without people. Even before the war, Ukraine's population density was low and very unevenly distributed," said Ella Libanova, a leading Ukrainian demographer.

According to her estimates, Ukraine has lost about 10 million people since the beginning of the war, and the birth rate has almost collapsed. Also, because of the war, it became more difficult to get pregnant and have a baby, says Valery Zukin, director of the Nadia Reproductive Medicine Clinic.

"We are seeing more and more complications, more and more abnormalities, more and more difficulties with carrying a pregnancy to term," he said.

Alla Baranenko, an employee of the clinic, adds that she is seeing an increase in the number of cases of premature menopause in young women.

"The quality of eggs has deteriorated, and their number is decreasing — and this is due to stress, and this applies not only to my patients, but also to egg donors, that is, women without any reproductive problems. And yet, the quality of their eggs is worse," she said./

According to her, the quality of sperm of Ukrainian men, especially those who returned from the front, is also worse.