Did a real report from Euronews state that Volodymyr Zelenskyy's parents were detained for laundering $11 million? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, Euronews had not published a story matching the claim. A Ukrainian governmental body dedicated to stopping the spread of disinformation has said the claim is false.
The claim, which has appeared across social media, was in a post made by the X account @its_The_Dr on July 2, 2026 (archived here). The post included a video, with a caption that read:
I'm No fan of Zelensky [sic] he likes to lecture us about Democracy and he wanted to Launder $200 million to Biden's Campaign now it is Speculated Zelensky's Parents could be involved with laundering 11 million. but obviously Zelensky will cover it up. What do you expect from a guy that Danced nude on television.
This is what a still from the video included in the post looked like:
(Image source: post by @its_The_Dr on X.)
The video includes what appears to be a logo of Euronews (archived here) -- although its official logo features a blue background and white lettering (archived here) -- and one of the network's programs, Europe Today (archived here). Searches for the names of Zelenskyy's parents on Euronews' website did not generate any matching results. We searched for variations of Zelenskyy's mother's name ["Rimma Zelenskyy" (archived here), "Rimma Zelenska" (archived here), and "Rymma Zelenska" (archived here)] and his father's name, "Oleksandr Zelenskyy" (archived here). Lead Stories reached out to Euronews about the claim and will update this story with any relevant response.
The first result of a Google News search (archived here) of the phrase "Zelenskyy AND parents" brought up a page from the Center for Countering Disinformation (archived here). The center is "a working body of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine" (archived here). The page, titled "russian fake about '11 million dollars in Zelenskyy's parents' accounts'" in English and published on July 3, 2026, opens:
False information is being spread online that NABU allegedly conducted searches in the accounts of the President of Ukraine's parents - Rimma and Oleksandr Zelenskyy. It is claimed that 11 million dollars were found in their accounts.
This story is not true and is completely fabricated. The fake is being spread along with a falsified video on behalf of a well-known European media outlet. The video also uses a forged screenshot of a news item from a Ukrainian website. In fact, on the official resources of the media whose logos were used to create the fake, there are no materials about "searches in Zelensky's parents' accounts".
Similarly, a Google image search (archived here) of the opening frame of the video first showed a post made on X by the official account of the Center for Countering Disinformation on July 3, 2026 (archived here). It included screenshots of the video and read:
❗️russian fake news about "$11 million in Zelenskyy's parents' accounts"
False information is circulating online claiming that NABU allegedly conducted searches at the homes of the parents of President of Ukraine Rymma and Oleksandr Zelenskyy.
Other instances of the video that appeared in these Google searches were not posted by credible organizations or social media accounts.
The video also states that a spokesperson from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (archived here) commented on the supposed detainment of Zelenskyy's parents. However, no news has been released on the bureau's website to substantiate this claim (archived here).
Other Lead Stories fact-checks related to Zelenskyy can be found here.
