Screenshots from the fake video on the left and the real video of Zelensky on the right.
A video that’s gone viral on social media platforms like Twitter and Telegram supposedly shows a pile of cocaine on the desk of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. But the video has been altered and the original video, which is available on Instagram, proves the cocaine isn’t real.
“What is this? Zelensky plotting World World III with a big pile of blow on his desk?” Twitter user Lauren Witzke tweeted on Sunday.
The real video is available on both Instagram and YouTube and shows there was clearly no cocaine on the desk when Zelensky was holding a Zoom call in 2022.
The real video was posted to Instagram on March 5 and shows Zelensky talking with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and one other person over Zoom. The original video, which doesn’t include any white powder, was captured after Musk had sent some equipment from SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet access to the region, according to the Associated Press.
Witzke is just the latest person to spread the video widely on social media, but it’s actually be circulating for a very long time among people who want to paint the Ukrainian leader as a drug addict—an accusation frequently made by people without evidence in Russian state media.
Some people have accused Zelensky of wanting to start World War III after Russia first invaded his country in February 2022. And while it’s certainly concerning that the U.S. supply of arms to Ukraine runs the risk of pitting two nuclear-armed countries, Russia and the U.S., in direct conflict with each other, that doesn’t seem to be an argument for Ukraine simply allowing Russia to take over the country.
Reasonable people can disagree on the role of the U.S. in the war between Ukraine and Russia. But nobody should be sharing fake videos to advance their cause. There are already enough fake images on the internet to go around.
