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.
A post shared on Facebook claims the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) paid Time Magazine to name President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Time Person of the Year.
Verdict: False.
There is no evidence for this claim.
What was claimed:
Clips show Ukrainian soldiers faking combat to appear "war torn" in order to receive US funds.
Our verdict:
The clips actually show behind-the-scenes footage from a music video about the Ukraine war.
WHAT WAS CLAIMED: A video shows people being made up to look like war-torn Ukrainian soldiers to get more US funding.
OUR VERDICT: False. The clip shows behind-the-scenes footage from the making of a music video.
Misbar investigated the circulating video and found the claim to be misleading.
Misbar's team found that the video shows behind-the-scenes moments from the production of a music video. As stated by the original publisher, this refers to the making of a music video called "Brothers."
WHAT WAS CLAIMED: A video shows people being made up to look like war-torn Ukrainian soldiers to get more US funding.
OUR VERDICT: False. The clip shows behind-the-scenes footage from the making of a music video.
A video, claiming to show an Ukrainian female soldier applying make-up in a war zone with allegations that Ukraine is staging fake combat scenarios to gain financial aid from the United States, is widely circulating on social media.
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be FABRICATED.
A video has surfaced on TikTok of luxury cars pulling up to a private jet with a caption suggesting that it shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy using billions to fund such a lifestyle.
The Verdict False
The video comes from the Instagram account of a private jet provider company and nothing in the original post links the jet and cars to Zelenskyy.
Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the French bank Milleis in February 2025 using the offshore company Maltex? No, that's not true: No credible media organization reported this story, as of March 6, 2025. A viral video purporting to be a TV news report about it displayed a non-existent TV channel logo. And the video contained inauthentic, AI-generated audio, according to two AI detectors.
In conclusion, there is no credible evidence that American weapons sent to Ukraine are ending up in Mexico, Syria, Gaza or any location outside of Ukraine, and claims otherwise may be attributed to Russian disinformation campaigns. The United States and Ukrainian governments have attempted strict oversight of their weapons - to mixed results - but any arms trafficking happening in Ukraine appears, as of this writing, to be contained to isolated incidents by criminals.