
No, photo doesn’t show Zelenskyy and wife posing with stacks of money
Claim: A photograph authentically showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska posing in front of stacks of money.
Rating: Fake
Claim: A photograph authentically showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska posing in front of stacks of money.
Rating: Fake
Claim: Former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa wrote a letter to Donald Trump criticizing the U.S. President's decision to suspend the delivery of all U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
Rating: True
According to Norwegian news reports, Haltbakk Bunkers, a Norwegian oil and shipping company, indeed posted on Facebook after the Zelenskyy-Trump meeting that it would no longer supply American forces in Norway. However, that post was later deleted for reasons that were unknown. We've reached out to the company to independently verify the Norwegian news outlets' reporting and are waiting for a response.
In other words, there was no primary evidence to confirm the alleged Facebook post by Haltbakk Bunkers, which said it had stopped providing fuel to American ships. Furthermore, it was unclear whether, or how many, ships were affected by the purported decision.
The Facebook page of a Ukrainian military recruitment center offered context after users responded angrily to the video. [... T]he post's author alleged the man walking the dog had repeatedly attempted to avoid military service. If he was of eligible age, such avoidance would violate a 2024 Ukrainian law requiring men between 18 and 60 to register for service and always carry registration documents on their person. The law stated only men aged 25 to 60 remain eligible for mobilization, though Ukrainian officials also explored reforms for younger men.
The post also said one of the officials visible in the video accompanied the man's dog back to its owner's home, and that, due to the man's love of his pet, they assigned him to one of the military's canine units. The post provided no further information or evidence to support its claims, and the center had not yet respond to an emailed request for comment.
As President Donald Trump has sought to secure rights to Ukraine's minerals as compensation for U.S. aid to fight the Russian invasion, he has repeatedly overstated the amount of aid provided by the U.S. compared with Europe and exaggerated the extent to which European assistance - unlike U.S. aid - is in the form of guaranteed loans.
Neither the Wall Street Journal nor AMVETS have reported such information. The U.S. has no authority to prosecute a foreign leader because of sovereign immunity.
Users are now sharing a viral video claiming to show crisis actors faking injuries for the Ukrainian army in order to "solicit" more money from allies. We debunk these claims in this edition of Truth or Fake.
VERDICT: Misleading. The image was taken in January 2020, two years before Russia invaded Ukraine and Zelenskiy ditched suits for wartime attire.
UNITED24 did not report such information, and neither did any other credible source.
Claim: Ukraine was caught faking combat scenes to ask for more money from the US.
Fact: This video does not show Ukrainian soldiers creating fake combat scenes. It's a behind-the-scenes shot from a music video.