Does a video prove that Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf did not shake hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in Lviv in April 2026? No, that's not true: The video cuts off before the two leaders actually shake hands. Video and photos published afterward show the king and Zelenskyy shaking hands immediately after the moment in the video published on X.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) posted by the @DanielMacl1n account on X on Oct. 22, 2026. It read:
> Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf refuses Zelenskyy's handshake.
> Zelenskyy spits toward the king's feet.
> The King stares in disbelief.
This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @DanielMacl1n on X.)
The 20-second video posted on X shows the two men speaking to each other after the king exits the car, but cuts off before they shake hands:
> Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf refuses Zelenskyy's handshake. > Zelenskyy spits toward the king's feet. > The King stares in disbelief. https://t.co/p6H2jnh69z
-- DMac (@DanielMacl1n) October 22, 2026
A longer video of King Carl XVI Gustaf's arrival in Lviv, Ukraine, on April 17, 2026, published by the War Live YouTube account (archived here), shows the two men shaking hands multiple times. Beginning at 3:04, the black car pulls up, the king steps out and greets Zelenskyy. This footage matches the video posted on X. At 3:41 in video, the king and Zelenskyy shake hands for 10 seconds. This is a screenshot from the video showing the two shaking hands:
Video posted by Reuters (archived here) shows the two shaking hands. This is a screenshot of the video from Reuters:
(Image source: Reuters.)
A photo published by Getty Images (archived here) also shows Zelenskyy and the king shaking hands. This is a screenshot of the photo from Getty Images:
(Image source: Getty Images.)
