Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wear a suit in a meeting with Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum executive chairman, following his February 2025 White House visit in which he wore a black shirt? No, that's not true: This photo of Zelenskyy and Schwab was taken in 2020, two years before Russia invaded Ukraine. Zelenskyy publicly said he would "wear a costume after this war will finish." In Ukrainian, "kostyum" or "костюм" translates to suit in English.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) shared to X on March 1, 2025, with a caption that read:
Zelensky can wear a suit to meet Klaus Schwab but not the President of the United States.
Below is how the post appeared on X at the time of this publication:
(Source: X screenshot taken Mon Mar 3 09:07:53 2025 UTC)
Zelenskyy met (archived here) President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office on February 28, 2025, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and pants. The post on X implied that Zelenskyy eschewed a suit in his meeting with Trump yet wore one in a later meeting with Schwab.
However, the photo of Zelenskyy and Schwab was taken on January 22, 2020. The World Economic Forum posted the image to the photo hosting website Flickr that same day with the following caption:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, speaking in the "Special Address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine" session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, January 22, 2020. Congress Hall
During the February 2025 meeting, a "heated argument" broke out between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance that C-SPAN described (archived here) as having:
... occurred before a deal was supposed to be made between Ukraine and the United States in which Ukraine would give the U.S. critical minerals in exchange for some unspecified help in dealing with Russia's invasion. Trump and Vance accused Zelensky of being "disrespectful," ungrateful, and of gambling with starting a global war. Before the argument began, President Trump was asked by reporters if he would provide Ukraine with security guarantees, but he declined to affirmatively answer these questions. President Zelensky said Ukraine needed security guarantees and that a ceasefire would not be sufficient. A scheduled news conference between the two leaders was subsequently canceled after this meeting.
In a follow-up question-and-answer discussion, a reporter said to Zelenskyy:
Why don't you wear a suit? You are at the highest level in this country's office. Do you own a suit?
Zelenskyy responded:
I will wear a costume after this war will finish, yes. Maybe something like yours, maybe something better, I don't know. We will see. Maybe something cheaper.
In Ukrainian, "kostyum" or "костюм" means suit, according to Google Translate.
C-SPAN shared (archived here) a clip of the exchange to X on February 28, 2025, which is shown in the embedded post below:
Q: "Why don't you wear a suit?"
-- CSPAN (@cspan) February 28, 2025
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy: "I will wear costume after this war will finish." pic.twitter.com/FzJqjIAQHa
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Other Lead Stories fact checks involving Volodymyr Zelenskyy can be read here.
