Zelenskyy once again hit with false property empire allegations

A so-called news report is circulating online alleging that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the owner of a $1.2 billion (€1 billion) real estate empire.

The video alleges that a former investigator at Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), known as “Olena K”, defected to “Europe” with thousands of pages of internal files that supposedly show systemic corruption at the highest echelons of the government in Kyiv.

She allegedly oversaw a task force tracking offshore wealth transfers and shell companies tied to Zelenskyy and his allies, which were used to buy more than 100 luxury properties abroad for the president and his family.

“On paper, Zelenskyy owns nothing. In reality, he owns everything,” the video claims.

It said that the total value of the supposed transfers stood at more than $1.2 billion US dollars, with the properties sitting in Spain, France, Italy, the UK and the UAE.

However, there’s absolutely no evidence that any of this is true, with the video appearing dubious at best. The voiceover on the video is clearly AI and robotic, hinting at its lack of legitimacy.

Many posts on X sharing it also link to its apparent source, a website called The London Telegraph, which seems to conflate the names of real news outlets like The Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard, to feign reputability.

The web address is dubious because it ends in “.uk”, rather than the more common “.co.uk” or “.com” seen in British websites.

The website is buggy and appears to have very little content on it, other than the article about Zelenskyy, which also repeats common Kremlin lines of attack, such as the oft-debunked challenge to his legitimacy as president.

EuroVerify was unable to access the page of the journalist who supposedly wrote the story, but other fact-checkers said her photo was stolen from a legitimate journalist unaffiliated with the website.

There is no reputable reporting on Olena K or a defecting NABU agent, and no evidence of the files supposedly detailing Zelenskyy’s transactions anywhere.

Both Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, have previously been the targets of allegations that they own a vast property portfolio or spend aid money for Ukraine on luxury goods.

Euronews has already debunked claims that Zelenskyy bought a multi-million-euro villa in Florida and that Zelenska spent €4 million in aid money on a Bugatti, and Zelenskyy more generally is routinely subject to disinformation campaigns about his handling of Russia’s war in Ukraine and his attempts to shore up financial backing.

These have all proven to be bogus reports that attempt to destabilise support for Ukraine as Moscow continues its offensive.