Whenever you come across a claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has purchased a new luxury property or that his wife Olena Zelenska has gone on an extravagant shopping spree, it’s worth pausing and taking a closer look. Many such “shocking revelations” that have circulated in the past have turned out to be baseless.
Still, these stories keep resurfacing, following a familiar pattern: an obscure journalist or a “whistleblower” posts allegations about a suspicious purchase, which are then amplified by networks of local websites or influencers sympathetic to Russia. From there, the story spreads further through smaller channels and social media groups.
Such sources seek to undermine the legitimacy of Western support for Ukraine’s defense and to erode trust in Ukraine’s leadership. Similar stories may resurface in the future, especially ahead of significant decisions and votes in the European Union or the United States concerning financial, humanitarian, and military aid to Ukraine.
What Disinformation Has Circulated So Far
False stories about Zelenskyy’s alleged wealth and purchases have circulated since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. If all of them were true, the Ukrainian president would own assets worth over 5 billion euros, making him the second-richest Ukrainian on the Forbes list.
These disinformation campaigns often aim to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to sow doubts about whether Western aid to Ukraine is being used as intended. They similarly target his family and frequently reinforce false claims about alleged “Nazism” in Ukraine.
Linking Zelenskyy to Expensive Properties
One of the most persistent disinformation themes about Volodymyr Zelenskyy focuses on his alleged personal wealth, portraying the Ukrainian president as a man living in luxury, and, by implication, as someone who could not have acquired such assets through legitimate means. These false stories often imply that the money comes from humanitarian or military aid to Ukraine and, in many cases, explicitly call for such assistance to be stopped. The assets attributed to Zelenskyy are usually real estate, mostly investment properties, with prices in the tens of millions of euros.
As early as February 2023, a false claim circulated that Zelenskyy owned 15 houses around the world, 3 private jets, held 1.2 billion dollars in offshore accounts, and received a regular monthly income of 11 million dollars. The disinformation story suggested that this wealth came from foreign aid to Ukraine.
In June 2023, another source claimed that Zelenskyy bought a casino hotel in Cyprus for 150 million dollars. Later, in October, posts falsely alleged that he purchased two luxury yachts worth 75 million euros. In December 2023, more unverified reports claimed he had acquired a villa in Florida for 20 million dollars.
In April 2024, more claims appeared, suggesting that Zelenskyy had purchased King Charles’s former residence for 25 million dollars. In August 2024, disinformation emerged alleging that he had purchased singer Sting’s villa for 75 million dollars. By November 2024, he had supposedly also purchased a hotel in a French ski resort for 88 million euros.
In January 2025, Russian Telegram accounts spread a claim that Zelenskyy owned a Caribbean island villa worth nearly 18 million euros, including construction costs. In March 2025, he was said to have acquired the French investment bank Milleis for an estimated 1.25 billion dollars. In April of the same year, another viral post claimed that the Ukrainian president had bought a stake in a South African mining company worth up to 1.6 billion dollars. In August 2025, yet another disinformation appeared, alleging that Zelenskyy and his close associates owned as many as 69 properties across Europe and another 34 in the United Arab Emirates, worth a total of 1.2 billion dollars.
Olena Zelenska’s Luxury Shopping Sprees
In addition to claims about Zelenskyy’s supposed wealth, disinformation frequently targets his close family members. His wife, Olena Zelenska, is the most common target, but some posts also mention his mother-in-law, who allegedly bought a villa in Egypt, or his mother, who supposedly received an apartment in Dubai’s luxury skyscraper Burj Khalifa as a gift from her son.
Stories featuring Zelenska tend to be more personal, linking her to extravagance and unnecessary luxury. In December 2022, a disinformation spread that she had spent 40,000 euros on a “shopping spree” in Paris. While this sum is negligible compared to the billions allegedly attributed to Zelenskyy, such claims are more relatable to the average reader and can more easily provoke suspicion of wasteful spending. Following a similar pattern, in October 2023, another false story claimed that Zelenska spent 1.1 million dollars on jewelry at a New York boutique. In July 2024, she was said to have purchased a Bugatti car worth 4.5 million euros, and in April 2025, she allegedly acquired Princess Diana’s “revenge dress” for 2.9 million euros.
Reinforcing Russia’s “Denazification” Narrative
Several false claims seek to portray Zelenskyy as an admirer of Nazi ideology, thereby reinforcing Russia’s narrative used to justify its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In December 2023, a fabricated story claimed that Zelenskyy bought the villa of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels for 8.12 million euros. Another disinformation claim from October 2024 alleged that Zelenskyy was seen stepping out of a limousine formerly owned by Adolf Hitler. While the posts did not specify a price, they speculated that the car could have been worth up to 15 million euros. Yet another claim, from March 2023, asserted that Zelenskyy had purchased the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s infamous Bavarian mountain retreat, for 14.2 million euros.
Unlike other disinformation narratives that spread only locally, false claims about the Zelenskyy family’s purchases have circulated widely across Europe and North America. The most viral examples are summarised in the table below, although there may be others that remain undetected.
Analysts Describe Claims as an Information Operation
In December 2023, researchers from the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University in the United States uncovered that the spread of specific narratives alleging the misuse of financial aid to Ukraine by the presidential couple was part of a coordinated information operation.
The Microsoft Threat Analysis Centre labelled the campaign as “Storm-1516.” The information operation primarily targeted European and American audiences (.pdf, p. 5). The French national agency for vigilance and protection against foreign digital interference, called Viginum, also investigated the campaign (.pdf, p. 4). Its report concluded that the likely goal of “Storm-1516” was to undermine public support for financial assistance to Ukraine by spreading false information about Ukrainian political figures (.pdf, p. 3).
Appearance of the Posts
The false allegations appeared in multiple formats, including photos, videos, fabricated news reports, and AI-generated media. Social media posts were crafted to mimic the tone and style of alleged “whistleblowers” or “investigative journalists” (.pdf, pp. 8–9).
In some cases, individuals featured in the posts were later identified as real people. One example involved a woman who claimed to be an employee of Cartier in New York and said she had met Olena Zelenska. According to the fact-checking organisation Vox Ukraine, the woman was in fact a student from St. Petersburg.
How the Narratives Spread
The disinformation was disseminated through a network of actors who adapted the narratives to local contexts in the targeted countries (.pdf, p. 5). Those directing the operation employed three distinct tactics to reach their audiences.
The first tactic involved the creation of “burner” or “disposable” social media profiles designed specifically for the operation. To appear credible, these fake accounts shared unrelated content weeks before posting fabricated disinformation under the guise of whistleblowing or journalism.
The second tactic relied on cooperation with pro-Russian influencers in the countries targeted by the disinformation campaign.
The third tactic made use of the so-called “CopyCop” network of websites, reportedly run by John Mark Dougan, a former U.S. Navy serviceman currently residing in Russia. Duncan is under FBI investigation in the United States.
After their initial release, the false stories were amplified by local websites and social media accounts known for spreading disinformation. These posts were further reinforced by comments from fake profiles, creating the illusion of widespread public interest (.pdf, p. 17). Finally, the content was redistributed to Russian-language audiences via platforms such as Telegram and Dzen (.pdf, pp. 17–18).
How Wealthy Is Ukraine’s President, Really?
Between 2020 and 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his family reported incomes that reached their highest level in 2020, at roughly 748 million euros.
Zelenskyy’s tax declarations for 2020 through 2024 are publicly available (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024). Foreign fact-checking organizations (Myth Detector, Reuters, FactCheck, DW) have repeatedly examined claims about Zelenskyy’s assets.
As of 2022, Forbes reported that Zelenskyy had not appeared on its global billionaires list. He likewise did not appear on the 2023, 2024, or 2025 lists.
In 2022, Forbes estimated the total value of his real estate at 4 million dollars and his total assets at under 30 million dollars. Zelenskyy previously owned an Italian villa worth 4.6 million dollars, but sold it in 2020, according to his tax filings. As of March 2024, he owns a 131.9-square-meter apartment in Kyiv, a parking space, a garage, and shares in two additional Kyiv apartments in Kyiv with Serhiy Shefir, his longtime friend and chief advisor until March 2025.
First Lady Olena Zelenska owns an apartment in Crimea and co-owns a non-residential property and another apartment in Kyiv. The family’s asset declaration also lists several luxury watches and two cars – a Land Rover and a Mercedes-Benz.
The leaked documents on foreign companies, known as the Pandora Papers, reveal that Zelenskyy did not disclose his shares in offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, and Belize before taking office in 2019.
A consortium of investigative journalists found that in 2019, shortly before becoming president, Zelenskyy donated his stake in Maltex Multicapital Corp. to his business partner Serhiy Shefir. According to information from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published in October 2021, one company in this network owns two apartments near Baker Street, an affluent area of London known as the fictional address of Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Shefir purchased the properties. There is no evidence that Zelenskyy was involved in the transaction.
In October 2021, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the information disclosed in the Pandora Papers was not “compromising” and “had nothing to do with the state budget or state positions.” He added that Zelenskyy’s business activities took place before he assumed office and therefore required no further comment.
The Reality of Corruption in Ukraine
Ukraine has long faced corruption in public administration. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, several cases of alleged embezzlement in military procurement and reconstruction projects have been uncovered, and investigations into bribery are ongoing. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has charged 31 current members of parliament with crimes including embezzlement and abuse of public power.
From 2013 to 2023, Ukraine’s score on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index improved by 11 points. In 2023, the country reached its best ranking yet — 104th out of 180 nations — before dropping one point and one place a year later. For comparison, Russia ranked 154th in 2024, while Slovakia ranked 59th.
The National Agency for Corruption Prevention reported that in 2024, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court convicted 60 senior public officials for corruption. Of these, 34 received suspended sentences, 17 were sentenced to prison, and the remainder were fined. A quarter of those convicted had their property confiscated. Most of the convictions involved abuse of office or authority.
The Anti-Corruption Action Centre noted that the persistently low number of verdicts in high-profile corruption cases reflects the complexity of investigations, which usually take more than a year to complete.
Notable Corruption Scandals
In August 2025, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) detained several suspects in a case involving the overpriced purchase of drones and military electronics. Among those charged were a Ukrainian MP, heads of district and city administrations, a member of the National Guard, and a businessman. The accused were taken into custody.
In April 2025, NABU and SAPO brought charges in a case involving the suspected overpricing of food supplies for the Ukrainian army. Investigators allege that the scheme involved the embezzlement of 733 million hryvnia (16.7 million euros) and an attempt to misappropriate another 788 million hryvnia (18 million euros). The accused are a former Interior Ministry department head, Mr. Khmelnytsky, and representatives of affiliated companies. The estimated loss to the state is 536 million hryvnia (11.4 million euros), and as of October 2025, the case remains in the preliminary investigation stage. That April, a court placed Mr. Khmelnytsky under nighttime house arrest. The head of the affiliated companies, Tetiana Hlyniana, remains wanted. In July 2025, the court allowed the trial to proceed in her absence, while the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court released the other defendants on bail.
In 2022, Vasyl Lozynskyj, then the First Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, was accused of accepting a 400,000 dollars bribe related to the inflated purchase of generators from prearranged suppliers. He was detained while receiving the money and dismissed from his post. In July 2023, he was released from custody after posting bail. According to The Kyiv Independent, he faces up to 12 years in prison.
In 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) opened an inquiry into large-scale fraud in the procurement of clothing and underwear for the armed forces. According to Transparency International Ukraine, one of the largest suppliers to the Ministry of Defense, Ihor Hrynkevych, and others, including his son, are among the defendants. The SBI stated that the clothing failed to meet technical standards and estimated the losses at 1.2 billion hryvnia (25 million euros).
Mr. Hrynkevych’s charges carry a potential prison sentence of up to 15 years for organizing and leading a criminal group, participating in large-scale fraud, and legalizing property obtained through criminal activity.
In July 2024, he was also charged with offering a bribe of US$500,000 in an attempt to influence the investigation.
Protests Over Moves to Curb Anti-Corruption Agencies
On July 22, 2025, President Zelenskyy signed a law approved by parliament that significantly reduced the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies, NABU and SAPO. The move triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also voiced concern over the changes.
Two days after signing the new law, the Ukrainian president submitted a new bill to restore the agencies’ independence. Parliament passed it, and the president signed it into law on July 31, 2025.
When Does Disinformation Appear?
False claims about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s alleged wealth circulate regularly, but they tend to spike during moments when governments debate or decide whether to continue aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
In December 2022, as the European Council approved an 18-billion-euro aid package for Ukraine, viral posts falsely claimed that First Lady Olena Zelenska had spent $40,000 on a shopping spree in Paris.
Similar patterns emerged the following year. In November 2023, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene shared false information on social media alleging that Zelenskyy had purchased two yachts and called for an end to U.S. aid to Ukraine. The post appeared shortly after then-President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve a 106-billion-dollar aid package covering Israel, Ukraine, and humanitarian assistance for Gaza. At the time, the House of Representatives approved only aid to Israel, while funding for Ukraine was delayed amid political divisions.
J. D. Vance, now vice president, echoed the same false narrative about the yachts as an argument against further support for Kyiv.
When Zelenskyy visited Washington in December 2023 to lobby Congress for continued assistance, another wave of disinformation appeared online, this time claiming he had purchased a $20 million villa in the United States. The story aimed to undermine lawmakers’ confidence in approving new aid.
The yacht allegations resurfaced in February 2024, as the House of Representatives once more weighed a large Ukraine aid package.
In April 2024, ahead of the European Parliament elections, as Congress was again considering major funding for Ukraine, another round of false claims spread online, alleging that Zelenskyy had bought a villa once owned by KingCharles.
Disinformation of this kind is likely to reappear whenever major aid packages or political decisions related to Ukraine are on the agenda. Similar narratives are likely to intensify ahead of elections, particularly when assistance to Ukraine becomes a prominent campaign issue.
This article is part of the Prebunking at Scale project, a collaboration between fact-checking organizations from the European Fact-Checking Network (EFCSN). #prebunkingatscale
