The claim of a broken NATO promise does not stand up to scrutiny. NATO never adopted any policy promising not to expand, and it could not have done so without formal consensus among its members - a fact of which the Soviets were fully aware.
No treaty or official commitment exists, and it is not even clear that such assurances were ever made or discussed. The Soviet leader himself later stated that all agreed terms were fully honored by NATO.
The quote that circulated online was correctly attributed to Hill. At the time of this writing, Snopes could not independently verify whether the U.S. had carried out the swap Hill said Russia wanted in 2019 or whether such a deal made the Trump administration's January 2026 capture of Maduro possible.
Multiple social media users shared a video featuring fire at a structure, apparently set by a drone, claiming that Ukraine attacked Putin's residence with drones. However, the Desk concluded that the video actually dates back to 2023 and is not related to any attack on Putin's residence.
We could not independently verify other details about the footage. However, it dates back to May 2023, and hence unlinked to the recent Russian allegations on Ukraine.
A Kyiv Post fact check investigating Russian claims that Ukraine recently attempted to eliminate Russian President Vladimir Putin by launching drone swarms at his personal residence found little evidence that the attack overnight Sunday-Monday ever took place beyond the Kremlin's own claims.
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War found no proof for claims made by Russia regarding a Ukrainian drone attack on Putin's residence.
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.
However, while the West's indecisive and dithering approach to the Ukrainian crisis may certainly warrant criticism, especially from the standpoint of the Ukrainians, there are ample grounds on which to contest the narrative that NATO has reneged on any of its formal obligations towards Russia under international law or provoked Russia by breaking a "gentleman's agreement" entered into with the Russian state.