The so-called Luhansk and Donetsk city administrations each respectively publish weekly announcements of the number of babies born in their cities, dispersed among other news such as shelling incidents, critical infrastructure status, and local events. Again, these numbers themselves should be taken with a degree of skepticism as they are “official” numbers from the so-called L/DNR, and cannot be verified. The charts above show the reported weekly births from August 28-October 29, 2017.

The announcements are always presented positively, portraying happy and healthy family life in the Russian-led separatist areas.

For example, in a “Luhansk City Administration” press announcement, the chief doctor of a children’s hospital in Luhansk reported that the birth rate for the first half of 2017 “increased by more than 6% compared to the previous year.” Narratives about population and birth rate deriving from the non-government-controlled areas all take a similar “positive” approach, consistently speaking towards an increase and improvement.

In an English language interview by “official” Russian-led separatist “state media” DONi Donbass News Agency, the “head” of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Aleksandr Zakharchenko reported the so-called DNR’s “growing” birth rate is an indication of the so-called DNR’s population belief in the “country and future in the conditions of war, daily shellings, and military operations.” The DONi Donbass News Agency is self-described “to collect and share trusted and confirmed information from Donbass people’s republics” — as “official state media” of the Russian-led separatist area the interview should be considered as propaganda.

Social Media

Looking into social media groups, comments on a post about a fire in the maternity ward of a city hospital in Donetsk indicate that hospital conditions are expectedly worse than the L/DNR make them out to be.