DISINFO: The age of total poverty has started in Ukraine
SUMMARY
The age of total poverty has started in Ukraine. This conclusion can be reached by examining the data of a survey by polling company Gradus, carried out in different cities of Ukraine with a sample of over 50,000 people. Questions referred to the financial situation of citizens, and 90% of participants noticed an increase in prices in the last months, so 39% of them said that now they have to purchase the cheapest products. 24% of participants said that currently, they have to reduce consumption or avoid a series of products as they can’t afford them.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine.
This disinformation claim distorts the Gradus survey, which actually measured consumption habits on Black Friday in Ukraine, comparing the years 2020 and 2021.
Although poverty is serious problem in Ukraine, which some studies put at 51% of the population, the claim that “the age of total poverty has started in this country” is an exaggeration whose only aim is to frame it as a dysfunctional state unable to provide for its citizens, in line with frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation about Ukraine.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukraine is looking for war as the government needs a controlled conflict, that Ukraine is an unstable country on the verge of total collapse, that Ukraine is ruled by a Nazi junta, or that under external control, Ukraine is doomed to escalate the conflict in Donbas.