Claim: Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska spent $1,100,000 on Cartier jewelry and got a salesperson fired in the process during a visit to the U.S. with her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in September 2023.
Rating: False
Pro-Russian social media accounts have been circulating an image of what they say is a Ukrainian postage stamp showing a Ukrainian veteran who fought alongside the Nazis in World World II. It turns out, however, that this isn"t a real stamp.
Russian propaganda is linking the current bedbug outbreak in Paris to Ukrainian refugees. To "prove" this false narrative, pro-Russian accounts on social media are sharing fabricated French media publications from Le Figaro, Libération and Contrepoints, falsely claiming that "parasite experts believe that the bedbug epidemic in Paris is linked to the influx of Ukrainian refugees in the capital". We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
The video, which has USA Today's logo and style, has been shared across multiple social media platforms.
Posts sharing footage of an altercation in New York purport to show a security guard to President Volodymyr Zelensky starting a bar fight, in the latest example of fabricated Western media reports spreading anti-Ukrainian messaging. USA Today, whose logo appears in the clip, told AFP it did not publish the report and both the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the bar where the incident allegedly occurred also refuted the claim.
Claim: In early October 2023, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to Russia.
Rating: Unfounded
The Kremlin accuses Ukraine of issuing a national stamp with the face of 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a Canadian-Ukrainian soldier who served in a Nazi military unit during World War II and was wrongfully honoured in the Canadian parliament last week with a standing ovation. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
Footage of a large demonstration in Montreal is being misrepresented in posts that claim the protesters took to the streets to voice anger over Canada's support for Ukraine. In fact, the clip shows a march coordinated by four unions seeking higher wages in contract negotiations with the provincial government in Quebec.
If the U.S. government shuts down, American civil servants will, indeed, suffer a pause in paychecks that will have been caused by a lack of action in the present congressional session. The fact that Ukrainian workers will get paid during this time period is thanks, however, to congressional action in previous sessions of Congress.
Christie claimed Biden said "a small invasion [of Ukraine] wouldn't be so bad." In a White House press conference about a month before Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, Biden said: "Russia will be held accountable" for an invasion, but the U.S. response would depend on what Russia did.