Ukraine’s Zelenskyy’s visit to war zone last year falsely resurfaced on social media

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion into Ukraine yesterday, plugging its neighboring nation into chaos. A day later, a viral claim on social media said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took off his clothes and put on a military uniform to join with his country’s troops to fight against Russia’s invasion. The social media users also have posted an image showing Zelenskyy wearing the military uniform. The claim has been widely shared on social media, and many social media users expressed their comments in reaction to the claim. After our investigation, however, it was found the claim is false.

Social Media Claim

Just one day after Russia’s invasion over Ukraine, an image showing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in military uniform was virally posted and shared on social media. It is claimed the Ukrainian leader took off his clothes and put on military uniform to join with his country’s troops to fight the Russia’s invasion.

Below are the captures of the viral claim circulated on social media on February 25 – a day after Russia began invading its neighboring country Ukraine.

A Facebook page “I’mYour Selly” captions the image “This is Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. He wears military uniform to join with troops in fighting to protect his homeland Ukraine. True Leader.”

FACEBOOK POST | ARCHIVED

Another Facebook user captions “[…] President Zelenskyy takes up a gun and joins with troops to fight the invasion from Russia […].”

FACEBOOK POST | ARCHIVED

A Facebook user named Hananya Naftali captions in English “This is the President of Ukraine Zelensky. He took off his clothes and put on a military uniform to join the troops in fighting to protect the Ukrainian homeland. He is a true leader.”

The claim made by the latest Facebook user has been shared nearly 30,000 times along with more than 2,500 comments.

FACEBOOK POST | ARCHIVED

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Cambodia began an investigation into the claim by running Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find out the truth as following.

The image was found in the photography stock of the Associated Press (AP) with the caption saying the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in military uniform visiting a trench in war zone Donetsk, the country’s east region.

The Ukrainian leader’s visit took place on December 6 of 2021, according to AP attributing the image to the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office.

AP IMAGES | ARCHIVED

The same image can be seen in Getty Images with a caption saying the Ukrainian President visited the frontline troops in Donbass region on December 6 last year.

GETTY IMAGES| ARCHIVED

CONCLUSION

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found the claim mentioned above is false. This image depicts Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wearing military uniform visited his country’s troop positioned in war zone Donbass region in last December. The image is totally unrelated to claim above.