The first ranking of liars was published in late 2017, covering only two months. The first ranking of liars was published in late 2017, covering only two months. The subsequent rankings have been released each year and show which top politicians lied, manipulated, or spoke truths the most during the year.

The rankings mainly aim to draw attention to the politicians' words broadcast widely in the media, lots of lies and manipulation. Therefore, the task of both journalists and consumers of information is to evaluate what we see, hear and read critically.

Hopefully, the readers of this article will fact-check the statements of political figures and not take on faith everything that the channels' frequent guests are saying.

In 1991, Ukraine was 19th in terms of the economy's size among the world's countries (by GDP adjusted by purchasing power parity). And 23rd in terms of industrial production. And, by the way, cooking pots are not made at Pivdenmash.

Since the very beginning of the war, the Russian Federation has been concealing the presence of Russian military troops in eastern Ukraine. Vladimir Putin signed a decree on classified information about military losses in peacetime during special operations. There is thus no official statistics from Russia on the number of dead there.

However, the JFO press center regularly publishes information about losses in Russia's armed forces. In 2019, 619 losses of Russian occupation forces were recorded in Donbas, with 49 Russian soldiers killed in June 2020.

Furthermore, a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner mentions 5,650 losses of "armed groups" during the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Also, in Russia, there were investigations of the deaths of Russian service members in Donbas. However, Russian authorities do not recognize the results of those investigations.

The Russian soldiers that were taken prisoners in Ukraine serve as yet another proof of the aggression. And Russia did recognize these service members by agreeing to an exchange of prisoners.

For instance, in 2016, Nadiia Savchenko was exchanged for two Russian GRU officers (GRU is Russia's main intelligence directorate) — Yevgeny Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov. There were other instances where Ukraine captured Russian service members : paratroopers, GRU special forces officers, etc.

Finally, the presence of Russians in Donbas is evidenced both by the satellite photos of Russian military convoys in Ukraine and the photos posted by Russian soldiers on social networks.

Ban on the gambling business did not lead to its disappearance but led it into the "shadow", with all the negative consequences. As provided for by the law, legalizing the gambling business means government regulation, business entities' liability, and sanctions to be imposed in the case of abuses and violations, which also contributes to replenishing the state budget.

The Verkhovna Rada does not have under consideration any bills legalizing prostitution or permitting same-sex marriages. In 2015, MPs tried to include the legalization of prostitution in bill No.3139, but the project was later withdrawn, and so it did not get onto Parliament's agenda.

The legalization of medical cannabis, whichhas been under discussion for several years, does not mean the legalization of narcotics. According to the WHO, cannabis containing the psychoactive component - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – in up to 0.2% is not a narcotic substance, and therefore should not be regulated by international conventions on narcotic drugs. The medical version of cannabis is thus a medicine, not a narcotic drug. It has analgesic, sedative and anti-inflammatory properties.

Its legalization is needed by patients with terminal cancer and palliative care patients to alleviate the suffering, epileptic patients to reduce the frequency of seizures, and people with Alzheimer's to slow the progression of the disease.

The bill on changing the patronymic was passed in the first reading on June 3, 2020. Ukrainians got the right to change their patronymic in addition to the right to change their first name and surname. Anyone who has reached the age of 16, i.e., not a child, will be able to change their patronymic at their discretion.

By the way, in 2013, the European Court of Human Rights declared the lack of such a legal right a violation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. However, having the right to change the patronymic does not mean that Ukrainians will start to do it en masse. Those who need it will now have this opportunity

First of all, international funds do not dictate their terms regarding the political directions of Ukraine. The IMF provides loans at a low-interest rate when a country's government promises to carry out the necessary reforms and return the funds in the future. Together with the Fund's representatives, a plan for changes is developed to improve the economic situation and achieve sustainable growth.

The World Bank assists in implementing economic reforms through consultations, joint economic research and approval of loans to carry out reforms.

The EBRD provides targeted loans for private and public projects. Financing is provided in the following three main areas: the financial sector, energy and infrastructure.

Secondly, a candidate for a state representative sitting on the supervisory board must meet several requirements. The government decided to appoint Serhiy Leshchenko to this position on December 18, 2019. International institutions never talk about names but procedures and rules only, including appointment rules. Therefore, the decision to appoint Leshchenko to UZ was approved by the Cabinet independently. Leshchenko's salary was indeed over UAH 300 thousand a month.

In reality, there is no evidence of US laboratories operating on the territory of Ukraine or producing biological weapons. The US Embassy in Ukraine dismissed this information, reminding of the existence of a US-Ukraine cooperation program in biological threat prevention since 2005 (Ulana Suprun has nothing to do with this program).

This agreement was signed to prevent the spread of technology, pathogens and expertise that could be used to develop biological weapons. Under the program, the United States can provide support to Ukrainian laboratories. Information that Renat Kuzmin tried to convey does not correspond to reality and has been debunked by Ukrainian media.

Not only Ukraine but the entire world was not ready for the pandemic. The Sanitary Service was finally abolished in Ukraine in 2017 because its tasks were performed by the Ministry of Health, the Labor Service and the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection (i.e. in point of fact, the Sanitary Service was a backup body). Currently, the functions of the epidemiological service are performed by the Center for Public Health and the Ministry of Health, with sanitary and epidemiological laboratories still operating as before.

No country was 100% ready for the pandemic. For many countries, the pandemic became just as challenging as it was for Ukraine. The problem is not Ukraine's healthcare reform but global unreadiness for pandemics.

Healthcare reform is in no way associated with the country's vulnerability to pandemics. This reform provided for more efficient use of funds (e.g. the principle of "money follows the patient"). This principle enabled the hospitals treating patients with Covid-19 to receive more funds.

Out of the "coronavirus" 66 billion, the largest part (35 billion) was indeed allocated for the Ministry of Infrastructure. However, UAH 16 billion was spent on the Ministry of Health, including providing medical staff with individual means of protection, paying higher salaries, purchasing equipment, and on the construction, renovation, and repairs of admission wards of hub hospitals in the hospital districts.

Construction of roads increased domestic demand for labor and industrial products used in road construction. Thanks to this, the economy declined by less than it could have (according to the NBU estimates, by 1.2 percentage points). Ukraine is not the only country in which the Government increased spending on infrastructure to support the economy. And although you could question whether the "coronavirus" money was spent wisely, it is not true to say that it was not spent on the things listed by the quote's author.

According to Israel's central bank forecast, two scenarios were considered for the economic situation development: optimistic and pessimistic. The optimistic scenario assumed that the disease could be taken under control without applying many additional restrictions. In this case, the forecasted reduction in GDP in 2020 was 4.5%. Under the pessimistic scenario, it was assumed that economic activity would be moderate as a result of additional restrictions due to higher incidence rates. Accordingly, GDP would decline by 7%. However, this did not mean "killing" the economy. All the economies around the globe suffered because of the limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but according to IMF data, Israel's economy suffered less than the economy of other developed countries.

Doctors, scientists and the WHO have proved several times that the coronavirus disease and influenza are different both in terms of the course and spread of disease. Specifically, one COVID-19 patient can infect up to 5 people while one flu patient — less than 2. The ten cycles of transmission of flu viruses can make 56 people ill, while this figure is 2,000 for COVID-19.

Firstly, Ukraine will not buy the Russian vaccine, not because of the US Embassy's prohibition, but because the vaccine has not ultimately proven its efficacy and safety. And also because Ukraine is in a state of war with Russia.

Secondly, "every fourth country in the world" does not line up for Sputnik V.As of February 2021, only 13 countries signed supply contracts out of 194. Among them are Belarus, India, China and Kazakhstan.

The Pfizer vaccine's effectiveness is confirmed by studies conducted according to international standards. The vaccine of Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech passed Phase III trials, where the vaccine proved that it is 95% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

There were no severe side effects among more than 40,000 adults who took two vaccine doses. There were deaths among those who received the vaccine, but they were not associated with vaccination. After all, many people were inoculated, and, naturally, some of them died during the year. However, "after" does not mean "due to".

Foreign banks can obtain the right to own land only to collect this land as collateral. Banks, however, must sell the land within two years. The law provides that only citizens of Ukraine or legal entities whose members/participants are exclusively Ukrainians can own agricultural land. Purchases by foreigners will be possible only under conditions of positive results of a referendum on this issue.

Land prices in Eastern European countries vary from EUR 3.1 thousand per hectare in Estonia, and EUR 3.4 thousand in Slovakia to EUR 7.5 thousand in the Czech Republic and EUR 10.3 thousand in Poland, i.e. EUR 10 thousand is not the average price. Low land prices in Ukraine are a consequence of there being no land market.

When this statement was made (January 2020), the land market did not operate in at least 7 countries, such as Congo, Cuba, North Korea, Tajikistan, Venezuela, Belarus and Ukraine.

Indeed, citizens of Ukraine will get the right to purchase agricultural land starting on July 1, 2021, while legal entities founded by Ukrainian citizens will do so in two years, in 2024. Natural persons will be able to own up to 100 ha and legal entities 10 thousand ha, starting in 2024. Communal and state land cannot be sold.

We are talking about bill No.1175-3 initiated by H.Tretiakova (Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans) in September 2019. It proposes to set the size of the subsistence minimum at not less than 40% of the average monthly salary for December of the year preceding the year of drawing the State Budget of Ukraine for the next year. The average salary in December 2019 amounted to UAH 12.264, i.e. the 40% is UAH 4.905.

On March 23, 2020, the project was sent back for revision.

From May 20, 2019 (Zelensky's inauguration day) to May 22, 2020, the combat losses in the Ukrainian defense and law enforcement agencies amounted to 104 people.

On April 13, 2020, amendments to the state budget were approved in connection with the quarantine that limited the salaries paid to employees of budgetary institutions to 10 times the minimum wage. But this restriction is to be applied temporarily during the quarantine period. Also, this maximum amount does not include the amounts additionally paid for rehabilitation, financial assistance to tackle social issues, etc.

In February 2020, there was talk about limiting the salaries of ministers and heads of state-owned enterprises (but not all civil servants). By the way, when it comes to "million UAH salaries", it is not about government agencies but the management of such enterprises as NJSC Naftogaz and Ukrposhta. However, the imposed restrictions did not apply to them.

Besides, research shows that civil servants' low salaries could cause corruption, with improper benefits making up for low official wages. Overall, to attract qualified people to the civil service, it is necessary to provide them with decent salaries.

The previous government started the reform of vocational education. At the time, as part of decentralization, the "resetting" of the education system began. Educational institutions received greater autonomy in the use of funds and can now attract additional funding for infrastructure and form educational programs themselves. Vocational training has been increasingly funded from the state and local budgets since 2015.

In 2016-2019, 145 training centers were established at the government's expense, based on institutions of vocational education.

However, the number of individuals entering the institutions of vocational training has been in decline since 2010. The number of educational institutions also gradually goes down due to the growing demand for higher education. So, not many people want to get vocational training in the first place. And, secondly, many former vocational schools or colleges turned into higher education institutions during the 1990s-2000s.

The Honcharuk government launched a pilot project of funding vocational and technical education. It continued the reforms started by the previous government.

The road was not built but repaired – these are two different things in terms of time and expenditure. Part of the road (60 km) began to be repaired back in 2016.

In 2019, there was indeed a decrease in industrial production in Ukraine by 1.8%. However, such indicators were affected several external and internal factors such as lower prices for metallurgical products on world markets; a warm winter that reduced the heating costs; stagnation of the machine-building industry; closure of the Russian market and the difficulties associated with entering the new, foreign markets; and the strengthening the hryvnia exchange rate.

The industry's decline was a kind of a global trend: in 2019, industrial production in the EU fell by 1.1%. The manipulation here lies in the fact that Servants of the People were supposed to be held "guilty" of the economy's fall, although it was caused by the objective factors listed above.

In June, reductions were reported in the Armed Forces. Subsequently, the General Staff explained the situation saying they were conducting the optimization of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and that it should not be seen as a "reduction".

One of the main reasons for the optimization is a discrepancy between the nominal strength of the Armed Forces and the indicators defined by the Law On the Strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (according to which it should not exceed 250 thousand people). However, the optimization does not include reducing any combat units or ervice members. It only concerns a reduction in positions that have been vacant for a long time.

In January-April 2020, the budget received 33 billion instead of 50. It was primarily due to the strengthening of the national currency (the exchange rate incorporated in the budget was lower than the actual rate), a reduction in imports and lower gas prices. Besides, lockdown began in March, which led to a reduction in economic activity and, accordingly, lower tax revenues.