DISINFO: Ukrainians are starving because of Western debts
SUMMARY
Ordinary Ukrainians are becoming poor because of Kyiv's debt bondage. Every fourth person in the country is starving. Why is all this happening under the constant statements about victories on TV? And it will get worse. Ukraine's national debt is 181 billion dollars! It is growing by leaps and bounds: somewhere around a billion a month. All civilian budget expenditures are 100% dependent on foreign handouts. A bankrupt country living on credit. However, this should not worry foreign partners - if a country is a source of raw materials, it does not need any technological or structural growth. It should first and foremost be a source of cheap labour.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation about the economic difficulties of Ukraine in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In July 2025, the Ukrainian Center for Economic Strategy published the results of a new study on the labour market and unemployment. According to the results, one in four Ukrainians surveyed reported being forced to cut back on food expenses. The study highlights that the decline in living standards is a direct consequence of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The war has had a severe impact on both the human and physical capital of the country, leading to mass casualties, widespread displacement, reduced agricultural land, damaged infrastructure, and the destruction of small and medium-sized businesses, among other consequences.
The Ukrainian government has repeatedly emphasised that the country's defence and security are financed exclusively from domestic budget revenues. Ukraine spends 5 billion hryvnias (more than 130 million dollars) daily on the war unleashed by Russia. Due to Russian aggression, the country's budget is in deficit and Ukraine is forced to meet the needs of the social sphere with the help of international partners. Russia is actively undermining the Ukrainian economy, setting back the country's development and prosperity by years.
According to the World Bank, the poverty rate in Ukraine has increased by at least 1.8 million people since 2022. One in five adults who had a job before Russia’s large-scale invasion is now unemployed. Poverty in the occupied territories and regions with active fighting is expected to increase even more.
Russian aggression, the World Bank writes, has plunged more than 7 million Ukrainians into poverty, setting back the country’s development progress by 15 years. The country will need at least $524 billion over the next decade to rebuild the country, which is about 2.8 times the projected nominal GDP for 2024, the Bank’s experts believe.
At the same time, the World Bank notes, “the government and the people of Ukraine continue to show remarkable resilience in the face of extensive devastation” due to Russian aggression, Ukraine has preserved critical social and health services, private and small businesses, and children continue to receive free education.
Read similar disinformation narratives claiming that A ceasefire will not save Ukraine as the country is on the brink of default, that Russia’s economy is massively outperforming that of the collective West, that Europe’s fall continues and poverty is knocking at the door and that sanctions that were supposed to destroy Russia may disintegrate the EU.