The government of Ukraine is studying a possibility of taking a census in Crimea and Donbas with the help of a satellite.

A satellite imagery project is being developed to estimate the population in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Dmytro Dubilet said on air of the Ukrainian Radio, adding that he has discussed the project with representatives of the United Nations Organization.

"We have met with UN representatives who will help us with a very challenging satellite imagery project," the minister said.

Dubilet also noted that it was difficult to assess the accuracy of satellites or some other tools in the estimation of the population in Crimea and the occupied districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The minister recalled that a similar project was implemented in Afghanistan where a major part of the territory is not controlled by the government.

Ukraine's government does not have a consolidated decision regarding the method of taking the census yet, Dubilet said. However, he expressed the hope that a research would be finished within one or two months and it would be possible to make estimations in specific locations.

As reported, in January 2020, Dubilet reported the results of the electronic census, according to which the population of Ukraine totaled 37.289 million people as of December 1, 2019. Later, the system which was used to take the census received a lot of criticism.