Claim by ukraina.ru:
Zelensky Blocked Trump-Putin Meeting
StopFake rating:
Kyiv flatly contradicted the narrative, with the Ukrainian President underscoring his support for diplomatic negotiations and asserting his readiness to participate in a prospective Trump-Putin summit.
Information is being spread online claiming that Ukraine is allegedly shelling Russian territory during peace negotiations. This was supposedly noticed in the West as well: Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende stated that allegedly such behavior shows that Ukraine does not want to end the war.
This is manipulation. Sonja van den Ende is a pro-Russian propagandist, not an independent Western journalist. The aggressor in the war is Russia, but it has not stopped shelling during negotiations.
The statement that Czech President Petr Pavel is calling on Ukraine to agree to the temporary occupation of some territories incorrectly reflects his stance. In an interview with the BBC, Petr Pavel emphasized that the West does not recognize the transfer of territories to Russia and advocates for preserving Ukraine's independence, not for agreeing to concessions or surrendering land.
Russia itself has not stopped attacking Ukraine's energy and civilian infrastructure for a single day - neither after Zelenskyy's promise to stop such attacks, nor after Putin's conversation with Donald Trump, during which the Russian leader supposedly ordered a halt to attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. After the alleged 'agreement to stop strikes', Russia continues to launch more than a hundred attack drones into Ukraine every day, targeting energy facilities, among other targets. The most massive attacks after the agreement between Putin and Trump were Russian strikes on the regions of Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Sumy and Kyiv regions.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says Vladimir Putin has broken 25 peace agreements in the past decade
Verdict: Misleading.
While the video does show Putin discussing a ceasefire in relation to the Russia-Ukraine War, it is not recent but from June 2024.
Did a video circulating on social media show Russian President Vladimir Putin making a public statement about Russia's terms for a ceasefire in Ukraine in March 2025? No, that's not true: The clip had been online for nine months. It showed Putin's remarks from June 2024.
WHAT WAS CLAIMED: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a journalist had an exchange about the impending peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
OUR VERDICT: Fake: No such exchange on diplomacy and Russia's concessions took place between Hegseth and a reporter in a press briefing after a NATO defense ministers' meeting on Feb. 13.
Claim: On Feb. 28, 2025, before a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Democrats who convinced him to reject a deal that would allow the U.S. to exploit minerals in Ukraine in exchange for U.S. support in Ukraine's war with Russia.
Rating: Mixture.
What's True: Zelenskyy did meet with Democratic U.S. senators ...
What's False: ... but that meeting also included at least three Republican senators. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, emphatically rejected claims that the Democrats of the U.S. Senate delegation had dissuaded Zelenskyy from taking the minerals deal. Further, Zelenskyy confirmed to reporters two days after the meeting that his country was ready to accept the deal.
Did Ukraine start its war with Russia, as President Donald Trump said? No, Russia invaded
Media outlets worldwide covered Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged it as a "special military operation," saying the offensive would "seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine."
For years, Russia has sought to blame Ukrainian actions for its invasion.