Latest fact checks & sources

What was claimed BBC Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse was caught on a hot mic after the meeting of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump in the White House, saying: “This is the second time ever that a US president ****s someone in the Oval Office.” Our verdict This audio clip has been faked. Mr Waterhouse says it is AI-generated, and a full clip of the report shows no such comments were broadcast.

What was claimed A video shows the moment President Zelenskyy said “f*** him” when asked about President Donald Trump’s latest comments on Ukraine before entering Number 10 Downing Street. Our verdict The clip is misleading, and this isn’t what President Zelenskyy said. He responded to a journalist by saying: “I’m OK, thank you so much”, and did not utter an expletive.

AI-generated audio has been added to the clip, falsely making it seem like the BBC correspondent swore about the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting on air.

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.

Donald Trump’s criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House led to a surge in misinformation about Ukraine’s president, alleging that he swore at Trump, staged the war and misused USAID funds for propaganda.

An image shared on X claims to show Volodymyr Zelenskyy wearing a suit while meeting with World Economic Forum President Klaus Schwab. Verdict: Misleading. The image is from January 2020. Zelenskyy swore not to wear a suit until the Russian invasion is over.

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.

Claim: The video shows the current situation in London after UK PM Keir Starmer announces his support for Ukraine Fact: The claim is false. The video is from 2021 and is unrelated to Ukraine.

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.