Public Health Fakes: Reduction of life expectancy is a consequence of genocide committed by the Ukrainian authorities. Issue #110

Disinformation: Shortening of lifespan is a result of genocide committed by the Ukrainian government

Russian channels, citing data from the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, spread information that the average lifespan in Ukraine has sharply decreased, and the authorities are hiding the main reasons for this — lack of access to medical services and mobilization of all men aged 25 to 75, which leads to a “colossal” number of deaths. The authors note that these data emphasize that the Ukrainian government is committing genocide against the population.

What’s the reality?

This is false; in fact, Russia is responsible for the deaths not only of military personnel but also of civilian Ukrainians. A number of researchers see Russia’s actions as constituting genocide against the Ukrainian people.

On the website of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine the draft of the Strategy for Demographic Development of Ukraine until 2040 is published. In the text, among the reasons for the population decline, they cited forced mass migration, low birth rates, worsening health conditions of the population, and so on. All these problems intensified after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The Strategy specifies that the average life expectancy for men has decreased from 66.4 years (in 2020) to 57.3 years (in 2023), and for women, from 76.2 to 70.9 years. The high level of premature mortality, especially among men, is associated with working in harmful and dangerous conditions, involvement in road traffic accidents, alcohol abuse, psychoactive substance abuse, smoking, and so on. The annexation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as further aggression by Russia in 2022, also affected life expectancy. However, the deaths of military personnel are not the only, and far from the main, reason for the reduction in life expectancy in Ukraine.

The thesis about mobilizing all Ukrainian men aged 25 to 75 does not correspond to reality. The maximum mobilization age is 60 for all military-eligible individuals, and higher military command personnel can serve in their positions until the age of 65.

In addition to military personnel, Russia is killing civilians. According to the UN, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, over 10,700 civilians have been killed, and more than 20,000 have been injured. The actual number of civilian casualties is significantly higher because there is no precise data on fatalities in temporarily occupied territories. For instance, in Mariupol alone, the number of victims could be measured in tens of thousands at least.

Additionally, Russia forcibly removes Ukrainian children from the occupied territories. This crime was first documented in 2014 in Crimea. On December 7, 2023, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubinets, stated that after February 24, 2022, Russia officially deported 19,546 Ukrainian children. Some Ukrainian and Western researchers classify deliberate mass killings of civilians and abduction of children as genocide committed by Russia against the Ukrainian people. On January 25, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) unanimously adopted the resolution “Situation of Ukrainian Children”. In the document, member states urge recognition of the deportation of Ukrainian children as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

The Strategy for Demographic Development of Ukraine also includes measures aimed at reducing premature mortality rates. For example, in the medical field, it suggests promoting healthy lifestyles, improving diagnostics and treatment, increasing vaccination rates, and so on.

Disinformation: The Ukrainian government is developing secret programs for the forced impregnation of women

The Russian “Foundation for the Fight Against Repression” once again discredits Ukraine. In particular, the organization has published a pseudo-investigation about the secret program “Zarathustra”, allegedly developed by Volodymyr Zelenskyi and other heads of relevant agencies in Ukraine in April 2023. The program’s goal is to increase birth rates in Ukraine through forced impregnation of women. For this purpose, the project “Nation of Heroes” was supposedly launched across Ukraine.

The development of such programs is allegedly confirmed by “documents” and testimonies of employees of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the “affected” woman. Additionally, the “ultra-secret program” is confirmed by Dutch journalist Sonia van den Ende and footage from surveillance cameras in a Ukrainian clinic, showing a woman allegedly being prepared for forced impregnation.

What’s the reality?

This is another piece of material that is part of the Kremlin’s discrediting campaign against the healthcare system in Ukraine and the government. The article published by the Russians actually contains false information, fake evidence, and a collection of anonymous sources.

The so-called “Foundation for the Fight Against Repression” is an organization founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, intended by the Russians to combat human rights violations in Western countries and support activists. Instead, the organization promotes fakes and discredits Ukraine and Western countries. In one of the previous issues, we already refuted the claims of the head of the foundation, Mira Terada, about the alleged sale of Ukrainian donor blood abroad.

The material about “forced impregnation of Ukrainian women” starts with the perennial narrative of the so-called “Nazism” in Ukraine. Specifically, it compares the program of “women’s impregnation in Ukraine” to the project of Nazi Germany called “Lebensborn.” In 1935, the Nazis did indeed encourage pregnant German women to give birth in Lebensborn homes to increase the “pure Aryan” population of Germany and prohibited them from having abortions. In the article, propagandists also claimed that the Minister of Health of Ukraine, Viktor Liashko, directly participated in the development of the project for women’s impregnation. However, these stories have no connection to Ukraine and are completely fabricated.

Although the Russians claim that part of the documents from the “secret” program “Zarathustra” has been made publicly available, we were unable to find them. The propagandists themselves do not provide any documents to support their claims. There are also no mentions of the surrogacy program named “Zarathustra” in open sources. Similarly, the propagandists rely solely on anonymous sources, such as a former Security Service of Ukraine employee. However, these so-called “employees” of ministries may actually be collaborators or entirely fictional characters.

Furthermore, the “Nation of Heroes” project mentioned in the text is an initiative of the private medical center “Mother and Child,” not a government program. In May 2023, the medical center launched a cryopreservation project, under which Ukrainian servicemen can store their biomaterials free of charge. Subsequently, the wives of servicemen whose husbands have stored their biomaterials but have died or suffered severe injuries can use them for fertilization. However, this process is voluntary, not forced, as claimed by the Russians.

Additionally, the Russians used fake video to corroborate their information. In the footage published by the foundation, a gynecologist is actually performing an ultrasound examination of the pelvic organs of a woman. However, this is in no way related to artificial insemination supposedly conducted in a laboratory in Ivano-Frankivsk. Moreover, the Russian video lacks a date and location of filming, and the faces of people are not visible. Therefore, it is impossible to identify whether the video was indeed shot in Ivano-Frankivsk.

To lend more legitimacy to their claims, the Russians used the words of “Dutch journalist” Sonia van den Ende, who spoke about allegedly similar “secret” programs for impregnating women in Ukraine. However, she is part of Russian propaganda, not an “independent journalist.” Sonia van den Ende has repeatedly visited Russia, participated in pseudo-referendums in temporarily occupied territories, and claimed to advocate for “democracy” in Russia.

Therefore, the article by the “Foundation for the Fight Against Repression” is fake; the Russians provide no genuine evidence of “secret programs” for impregnating Ukrainian women. Instead, they discredit Ukraine’s healthcare sector, particularly surrogacy medical centers.

At the same time, Ukraine has programs that promote childbirth and assist parents. For instance, to improve the demographic situation, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine added a new package “Treatment of infertility using assisted reproductive technologies (in vitro fertilization)” under the Medical Guarantees Program in 2024. These services will be free for patients, and according to preliminary estimates, the implementation of the program will help more than 10,000 children to be born. To access these services, a woman can obtain an electronic referral from a medical institution where a special multidisciplinary council or hospital with a contract with the National Health Service of Ukraine for the provision of relevant services is established.

Additionally, within the framework of the “eMaliatko” program, parents have access to up to 10 state services, of which 5 are basic for those who have not received a child’s birth certificate. Parents can also choose from services such as financial assistance at the birth of a child, registration of the child’s place of residence, compensation for a baby package, and assistance to large families. In 2023, over 108,000 individuals used the “eMaliatko” services.