DISINFO: The only “growth” in Ukraine is the growth of the government debt
SUMMARY
The only “growth” in Ukraine (since 1991-editor) is the growth of the government debt.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremling disinformation narrative portraying the economic situation of Ukraine as disastruous and blaming various international actors - EU, IMF - never Russia, for this state of affairs. Russian TV-host Olga Skabeeva argues in this talk show that Ukraine has nothing to celebrate on it’s Day of Independence, because the only growth in Ukraine since 1991 is the growth of government debt. A comparison table with numbers is presented on the screen. However, some numbers in this table are a consequence of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The first comparison in the table is the territory controlled by Ukraine in 1991 and 2019. Obviously, the number decreased after the illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. Number of higher education institutions presented in the table is correct. But Skabeeva doesn’t mention that the number also decreased because a part of Ukrainian territory was annexed by Russia. The positive thing not mentioned about Ukrainian education is that the number of postgraduate and doctoral students increased by 51.5% and 28% since independence. Agriculture is also presented in the table. The table says that in 1991 Ukraine harvested 51 million tons. And in 2019 - 61 million tons. So even here we see an increase of over 20%. And also it is not stated that in 2018 Ukraine had the largest harvest of its time as an independent country: 70.1 million tons. The table shows the comparison of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1991 and 2019. But the host doesn't mention, that the GDP in Ukraine shows growth in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. No other positive numbers are mentioned by Skabeeva. For example - new air travel records. Despite the loss of the airports of Donetsk and Simferopol, Ukrainian air transport broke the record for the years of independence - more than 20 million passengers, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure. Compared to 2015, passenger traffic through Ukrainian airports increased by 87%.