DISINFO: The UK is to lay off many doctors to provide more money to Ukraine
SUMMARY
The coalition of the willing views Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a functional dictator who is capable of continuing the war. They also want Ukraine to continue the war. The UK is to begin mass layoffs of doctors to provide more money to Ukraine. France will use a similar scheme to find additional money.
RESPONSE
These are recurring disinformation narratives accusing the coalition of the willing, including the European Union and UK, of warmongering, questioning the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and discrediting foreign assistance to Ukraine in light of the ongoing Russian war of aggression.
The National Health Service (NHS), a publicly funded healthcare system in England, is indeed lately laying off doctors and nurses. This development, however, has no connection with the UK's financial assistance to Ukraine. It is part of the UK’s ongoing reform in the healthcare sector which, among other things, seeks to reduce the duplication of jobs between the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Pro-Kremlin outlets frequently fabricate links between various social and economic developments in Western countries and their support for Ukraine, aiming to discredit the latter. They similarly exploit natural disasters with this aim, as happened with Hurricane Helene in the US in 2024, floods in southern Poland in September 2024, and the California wildfires in January 2025.
Ukraine and its allies are committed to ending the war as soon as possible but not at the expense of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The European Union stands for a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine and peace on Ukraine’s terms. On 10 May 2025, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Premier Donald Tusk arrived in Kyiv, where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in its war in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not a dictator as alleged but a democratically elected president. Although Zelenskyy’s continuation in power after his initial mandate expired in May 2024 generated some domestic controversy, Ukraine’s constitution is straightforward: no elections can be held during wartime and the President of Ukraine exercises his powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President. Almost all observers consider regular elections unfeasible as there are millions of refugees abroad, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians serving on the frontline and a significant part of the Ukrainian population lives under Russian occupation. There are also multiple funding and infrastructure problems that can hardly be addressed while the war is ongoing. See our article Kremlin disinformation attacking the ‘legitimacy’ of Ukrainian authorities.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Western military aid to Ukraine only will cause more suffering, that Western weapons supplies to Ukraine are exacerbating the conflict, and that Kyiv is a vassal of the US and cannot take any steps without it.