DISINFO: Zelensky's task is to reduce the population of Ukraine to 5 million people
SUMMARY
For the sake of their ambitions, the Ukrainian government has put its people on the brink of survival ... Today, due to coronavirus, the death rate is three times ahead of the birth rate in Ukraine. Zelensky said with particular cynicism that he was not going to "conduct experiments on citizens like on rabbits," having bought a vaccine that is not fully tested. And the "rabbits" are the citizens of Ukraine [...] Zelensky is carrying out the maximum death programme: no more than five million people should remain in Ukraine...
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media outlets alleging that Ukraine is killing its own people by refusing to buy Russia’s Sputnik V and opting instead for Western and Chinese vaccines.
The President of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine do not aim to reduce the population of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the government of Ukraine has introduced measures necessary to contain the dissemination of the coronavirus. The health care system of Ukraine was adjusted to the needs of the current situation: hospitals were improved, necessary medication purchased, medical staff trained. The Parliament of Ukraine created a state fund to combat COVID-19.
When the first vaccines became available, Ukrainian authorities started a COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Even though, in the beginning, the number of vaccines delivered to Ukraine was scarce, with time Ukraine secured access to 20+ million doses. As of 31 July 2021, Ukraine has received 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The biggest supplies were delivered in July - more than 7 million doses, mostly Moderna and Coronavac.
Currently, four vaccines have been certified for use in Ukraine. These are AstraZeneca, Sinovac Biotech, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Novavax. All of them have been thoroughly tested. As for Sputnik V, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in an interview with Bild that Kyiv would not use it for two reasons:
“It has not passed the necessary stages of clinical trials. And the second reason is that we definitely cannot use a vaccine produced by the country with which we have the ongoing military conflict."
See similar disinformation cases in our database: 70 per cent of Ukrainians sure that jabbing has failed over refusal of Sputnik V; Ukrainians are massively travelling to Russia get vaccinated with Sputnik V; Ukraine focusing on refusing "Sputnik V" instead of saving lives; Ukrainians will die because they gave up the Sputnik V vaccine.