Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Did the New York Post report that USAID paid TIME Magazine $4 million to make Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy the 2022 Person of the Year, as a post and video on X.com claimed? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the newspaper's website did not show such a story. A search across a government spending database did not produce…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump call his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy "a dictator"? Yes, that's true: Trump used the word "dictator" to describe Zelenskyy in a February 19, 2025, post on Truth Social. Despite that fact, Trump later attempted to cast doubt on his earlier description. During a joint press appearance featuring Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump say that Ukraine started the war with Russia? Yes, that's true: On February 18, 2025, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence, he said that Ukraine should have never started the war. That followed talks between the U.S. and Russia without the participation of Ukraine. The statement that is the focus of this story appeared in a…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's approval rating plummet to 4 percent, as of February 2025? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no publicly available poll confirming the figure voiced by President Donald Trump on February 18, 2025. The White House did not reply to a Lead Stories request to disclose the basis for Trump's statement. The claim originated from…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy say, "The risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100%," without adding conditions to that statement or qualifying it? No, that's not true: A viral video of an interview on Meet The Press left out the part of the video just before he said that sentence. The full context of the interview shows Zelenskyy saying…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spend 14.2 million euros ($14.7 million) to buy the legendary "Eagle's Nest" previously owned by Adolf Hitler? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the Kehlsteinhaus, as the Eagle's Nest is known, told Lead Stories the claim was not true and that it had not been sold as of publication date. The German state of…

Does a photo of stacks of banknotes sitting in a room or basement show USAID money found in the house of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy? No, that's not true: The photo has been online since 2007 and shows money discovered in a drug bust in Mexico. The picture has been used in jokes and memes for years. The joke appeared…

Is it unusual that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was not invited to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration? No, that's missing context: A social media post's assertion that usually the British prime minister "would be the first name on the list" is untrue. Traditionally, foreign leaders were not invited to U.S. presidential inaugurations, a presidential historian told Lead Stories. The claim…

Did the Ukrainian government state that "eight mansions owned by Ukrainian military officials" were "burned down in wildfires in Los Angeles" in January 2025? No, that's not true: A video that made this assertion contained the logo of United24, the official fundraising platform of the Ukrainian government. A United24 spokesperson and Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation said this video is…

Does a video prove that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought a hotel in Courchevel, France, for 88 million euros ($93 million) in November 2024? No, that's not true: The video was based on a screenshot of a fake website mimicking the online page of a currently closed hotel. The current owner of the hotel described the posts sharing the video…