Category USA

Zelenskyy didn’t exactly say ‘raising volume of your voice’ but not ‘your logic’ in Trump meeting

Claim:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance during their contentious February 2025 Oval Office meeting, “You're raising the volume of your voice, but not the logic of your argument."

Context
Zelenskyy said, "You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war [between Ukraine and Russia], you can ..." before Trump cut him off. We do not know what Zelenskyy was planning to say in the rest of his sentence before he was interrupted.

March 6, 2025
Fact checks / debunkings International community Misconceptions President Donald Trump Ukraine USA

Macron didn’t call Putin a ‘butcher’ in news conference with Trump

What was claimed: A video shows the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, calling Vladimir Putin a "butcher" and commenting on his "war crimes" during a press conference with US president Donald Trump.

Our verdict: This isn't quite right. Mr Macron referred to killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and mentioned war crimes, but did not describe President Putin as a "butcher".

Fact Check: AI Video Shows Ukrainian Flag Hoisted On Statue Of Liberty Torch

Does a video authentically show climbers hoisting a Ukrainian flag on the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York? No, that's not true: The video was created using AI, according to the caption added by the account that originally posted it. The torch held by the statue in the video looks markedly different from the one held by the actual Statue of Liberty in New York.

Fact Check: INAUTHENTIC Audio Suggests BBC Reporter Joked On Open Mic That Trump F***ed Zelenskyy In Oval Office Meeting

Did a video clip shared to X authentically show a BBC reporter joking the February 28, 2025 Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump was " ... the second time that a U.S. president f***ed someone in the Oval Office." ? No, that's not true: The audio was generated using artificial intelligence. The original newscast did not include any such remark and the reporter has publicly dismissed its authenticity.

Zelenskyy saying US will have to send ‘sons and daughters to war’ in Ukraine is from old video

Zelenskyy did say, "The U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending [our] sons and daughters to war." However, he was talking about a hypothetical situation in which Ukraine losing the war against Russia would lead to a broader conflict resulting in Americans being pulled into fighting. He made this statement in February 2023, two years before the exchange with Trump took place.

March 5, 2025
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Ukraine USA

The facts behind resurfaced claim that Zelenskyy has multiple homes, planes, offshore accounts

The claim, shared across Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived) in the form of an image, read:

The President of Ukraine owns a 35 million dollar home in Florida and has $1.2 billion in a overseas bank account. Zelensky owns 15 homes, 3 private planes, and has a monthly income of 11 million dollars. Why is no one questioning where our AID is going?

However, there was no proof of any of the claims shared within the image.

Trump Exaggerates on U.S. and European Aid to Ukraine, Loans

Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told us in an email that “Trump’s citation of $350 billion is double what Congress has appropriated.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Congress has passed five spending bills to provide support to Ukraine, totaling about $174.2 billion, as we’ve explained before in fact-checking this and other claims Trump has made about Ukraine and Zelenskky. Each of those five measures passed with bipartisan support. [...]

As for Trump’s claim that Europe provided its aid to Ukraine in the “form of a loan, they get their money back,” that’s an exaggeration. Only a portion of European aid is in the form of loans.

March 4, 2025
Aid to Ukraine Fact checks / debunkings International community Misconceptions President Donald Trump Ukraine USA

Viral Photos Of Zelenskyy In Suit Predate 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

Claim: Volodymyr Zelenskyy wore a suit while meeting Emmanuel Macron and Klaus Schwab, but opted for a non-formal sweatshirt during his visit to the Oval Office.

Fact: Photos of Zelenskyy with Macron and Schwab were taken prior to the Russian invasion of February 2022.

Video doesn’t show Zelenskyy using expletive about Trump outside 10 Downing Street

However, Zelenskyy did not use any expletives about Trump when speaking to journalists during the walk from his motorcade to greet Starmer. The claim is false. Further, the video exhibited potential signs that its originator used an artificial-intelligence tool to create many of its elements.

An unedited video (archived) showing the same moment featured an unidentified reporter asking, "Mr. President, how was the trip? How do you feel?," and Zelenskyy responding, "Ok. Thank you so much."

Fake: Ukraine Stopped Using the Starlink System and Insulted Elon Musk — UNITED24

UNITED24 did not report such information, and neither did any other credible source.

March 3, 2025
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Misconceptions Ukraine USA