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A fake clip circulating online alleges that Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) is investigating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s parents over an illicit $11 million (€9.6 million) that appeared in their bank account in 2025.
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It uses the branding of Europe Today, Euronews’ live morning show, to report on the supposed investigation, alleging that Zelenskyy’s parents described the funds as a gift — some posts say that it’s a gift from European taxpayers’ money.
The video also claims that they were detained but released shortly afterwards, following pressure from Zelenskyy’s office.
However, not only is the video fake, but the whole story is too.
Euronews did not produce this video, and if there were any room for doubt, you can tell that the voice narrating the report was AI-generated, and there’s no trace of any such story on Euronews’ website.
The video also cites an article by the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, which supposedly describes the alleged investigation, but this is also fake and can’t be found anywhere online.
Additionally, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, a body affiliated with the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, has firmly denied the video’s claims.
It said that the story is completely fabricated and attributed it to the Russian “Matryoshka” disinformation campaign, which specialises in creating fake content under the guise of legitimate news outlets to try and give them a veneer of credibility.
“Russian propaganda has repeatedly released similar fakes about the ‘huge wealth’ or ‘expensive purchases’ of the Zelenskyy family, which were massively spread on social networks, including their English-language segment, in order to discredit Ukraine on the international stage,” the agency said in a statement.
It added that the campaign aims to undermine the trust of Ukraine’s allies, who continue to support Kyiv and are targeted by pro-Russian propaganda, amid Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is now well into its fifth year.
This is true: The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, has debunked various fake videos and articles spread by the Matryoshka campaign before.
For example, a fake BBC report alleged that Zelenskyy had a stolen painting hanging in his office, while a series of deepfakes featuring Hollywood actors aimed to pressure Europe to accept a peace deal on Russia’s terms.
As for claims about Zelenskyy’s supposedly huge and often illicit wealth, we’ve previously debunked false allegations that a NABU agent defected from the organisation to expose the Ukrainian president’s vast property empire, and others that his wife, Olena Zelenska, used millions in taxpayers’ money to purchase a hypercar.
