Latest fact checks & sources

Did a video clip shared to X authentically show a BBC reporter joking the February 28, 2025 Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump was ” … the second time that a U.S. president f***ed someone in the Oval Office.” ? No, that’s not true: The audio was generated using artificial intelligence. The original newscast did not include any such remark and the reporter has publicly dismissed its authenticity.

Does a video authentically show climbers hoisting a Ukrainian flag on the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York? No, that’s not true: The video was created using AI, according to the caption added by the account that originally posted it. The torch held by the statue in the video looks markedly different from the one held by the actual Statue of Liberty in New York.

What was claimed: A video shows the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, calling Vladimir Putin a “butcher” and commenting on his “war crimes” during a press conference with US president Donald Trump. Our verdict: This isn’t quite right. Mr Macron referred to killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and mentioned war crimes, but did not describe President Putin as a “butcher”.

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.

Claim: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance during their contentious February 2025 Oval Office meeting, “You’re raising the volume of your voice, but not the logic of your argument.” Context Zelenskyy said, “You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war [between Ukraine and Russia], you can …” before Trump cut him off. We do not know what Zelenskyy was planning to say in the rest of his sentence before he was interrupted.

Waterhouse did not make the off-the-cuff remark in the original footage of the broadcast, which BBC News posted to its official YouTube channel on March 1, the day it originally aired. In other words, versions of the video that included Waterhouse allegedly saying “this is the second time ever that a U.S. president f***ed someone in the Oval Office” were doctored to misrepresent reality. As a result, we’ve rated the claim fake.

In a video from June 2024, Gabbard aired false claims and elided important context.

The rumour that Donald Trump was a Soviet spy that went by the name “Agent Krasnov” has been spreading online since February, after a former KGB agent claimed on facebook that Trump was recruited by them in 1987. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

Verdict: False The video originally stems from TikTok and was likely edited with artificial intelligence (AI), according to Snopes. A video shared on X indicates Zelenskyy responded to a question from a reporter about his trip to the U.K.

Verdict: False. The video shows a behind-the-scenes look at a music video for a song called “Brothers” by Misha Scorpion and Vitsik, not Ukrainian soldiers “faking combat.”

The claim, shared across Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived) in the form of an image, read: The President of Ukraine owns a 35 million dollar home in Florida and has $1.2 billion in a overseas bank account. Zelensky owns 15 homes, 3 private planes, and has a monthly income of 11 million dollars. Why is no one questioning where our AID is going? However, there was no proof of any of the claims shared within the image.

Conclusion: European military outmatches Russian in key areas, with 1.47 million personnel, 367,760 armored vehicles and over 2,000 warships, including six aircraft carriers. France, Germany and Britain are increasing defense spending, while Russia struggles with losses, outdated stockpiles, and sanctions-limited weapons production.

Zelenskyy did say, “The U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending [our] sons and daughters to war.” However, he was talking about a hypothetical situation in which Ukraine losing the war against Russia would lead to a broader conflict resulting in Americans being pulled into fighting. He made this statement in February 2023, two years before the exchange with Trump took place.

Misbar investigated the viral claim and found it to be misleading; the image shows Zelenskyy signing bombs intended for use against Russia, not Gaza.

VERDICT: Misleading. The image was taken in January 2020, two years before Russia invaded Ukraine and Zelenskiy ditched suits for wartime attire.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.