Russia has suffered heavy but undisclosed casualties since launching its war in Ukraine nearly two years ago, and hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country out of opposition to the conflict or fear of being called up to fight.

Putin told employees at a tank factory in the Urals region that two children per family was the minimum number if the peoples of Russia were to preserve their identities.

“If we want to survive as an ethnic group – well, or as ethnic groups inhabiting Russia – there must be at least two children,” he said.

If each family had just one child, the population would shrink.

“And in order to expand and develop, you need at least three children,” he said.

Putin declares himself a supporter of “traditional values” based on family, nation and the Orthodox Christian faith. In the course of his 24 years in power, the country has severely restricted expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity and banned the “LGBT movement” as “extremist”.

Russia suffered two decades of gradual population decline following the collapse of the Soviet Union, exacerbated by chronic problems such as alcoholism.

Russia Ukraine
A missile strike on the Russian city of Belgorod has killed six and injured 17 more. (AP PHOTO)
The state statistics bureau estimated the population at 146.4 million at the start of 2023, down from nearly 149 million 20 years earlier but up from a low of about 143 million between 2007 and 2012.

Six people including a one-year-old girl were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on Thursday on the southern Russian city of Belgorod, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Seventeen other people, including four children, were hospitalised with injuries, with six in serious condition, Gladkov said, adding that two children had already been released for outpatient treatment. He said the one-year-old child’s name was Valentina.

“We are all grieving with the families and friends of the victims,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram. “I want to express my sincere condolences, realising that there are no words that can comfort this grief.”

Belgorod is the nearest major Russian city to the border with Ukraine, and the city and surrounding region have come under frequent attack since February 2022 when Russia sent forces into Ukraine in what it calls a “special military operation”.

Russian authorities said 25 civilians were killed in the largest of these attacks at the end of December.