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By fabricating stories about Ukraine’s First Lady, hostile propaganda aims to undermine foreign trust in our country and Ukrainians’ trust in their own government.
Russian propaganda works to erode global confidence in Ukraine, hoping to weaken foreign support and destabilize Ukrainian society internally, shaking public trust in Ukrainian authorities. Consequently, not only President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, high-ranking officials, and government leaders but also First Lady Olena Zelenska have become targets of these attacks. Entire bot farms are dedicated to spreading lies and slander about her, all to tarnish her reputation.
The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security analyzed how Russia discredits Olena Zelenska
Experts at the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (CSCIS) under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine conducted an analysis of these information attacks. CSCIS senior analyst Maksym Vikhrov presented the findings last week at the DisOut: Pushing Manipulation out of the Information Space conference in Kyiv.
Maksym Vikhrov
CSCIS continually monitors and analyzes Russian disinformation. This includes debunking fakes, examining the narrative structure of Russian propaganda, identifying specific information operations, and countering them, Maksym Vikhrov stated in his presentation. According to him, attacks aimed at Ukraine’s First Lady are part of a comprehensive effort by the enemy to discredit Ukraine’s leadership and the country as a whole.
“By attacking the leadership of our country and everyone connected to it, Russia seeks to achieve at least two objectives: first, to weaken support for Ukraine in key partner countries. While these attacks don’t directly affect political consensus in these nations, they may influence public opinion, which, given that our allies are democratic countries, could eventually affect certain political decisions.
Second, these information operations also target Ukrainians themselves, as Russia cannot overcome our military resistance. Thus, it attempts to attack us from within, aiming to demoralize and destabilize Ukrainian society,” he said.
Russia circulates two main narratives about Olena Zelenska: first, that she lives in luxury during wartime; second, that she commits crimes against children.
One of the central metanarratives of Russian propaganda is the theme of corruption in Ukraine, Vikhrov continued. Russia persistently claims on every platform that Ukraine is utterly corrupt, that everything is being embezzled, and that Kyiv profits from the war. Similar attacks are directed at Olena Zelenska, alleging that she epitomizes how the Ukrainian authorities live in luxury and profit from the war while the West provides aid. Information operations are constantly conducted to discredit the Olena Zelenska Foundation, falsely accusing it of embezzling funds or misusing international aid.
The second metanarrative claims that the Ukrainian authorities, in general, and Olena Zelenska, in particular, allegedly commit crimes against children.
How It Works
“In the case of information attacks on Olena Zelenska, Russian propaganda operates in a very formulaic and even primitive way — something we found surprising, to say the least. First, a fake message is created, usually disseminated through foreign proxies, such as fake sites mimicking Western publications, where an ‘exposé’ article appears. It could also appear as posts on social media or statements from supposed independent investigators,” said Maksym Vikhrov. “Additionally, Russia uses actual Nigerian online publications. That is, a Russian fake in English or French appears on a real Nigerian outlet, and from there, it spreads across social media, platforms, and through various ‘talking heads’ — essentially through the entire ecosystem of Russian lies.”
Maksym Vikhrov
He noted some good news in this. The fact that Russians are forced to use foreign sources indicates that they cannot spread lies about Ukraine directly. Any information originating from Russian officials, broadcasters, journalists, or investigators — if any exist — would automatically be perceived as false. “They have to use various methods to obscure their identity,” he added.
The analyst pointed out that Telegram is the primary gateway to the Ukrainian audience, as it is popular and largely unregulated. The most dangerous aspect is that many Telegram channels pose as Ukrainian, while in reality, they are run by Russian intelligence services. Since many Ukrainians are fluent in Russian, they may not always recognize that a given Telegram channel is, in fact, Russian.
Narrative One: “Olena Zelenska Lives in Luxury While Ukraine Is at War”
Falsehoods spread more effectively when they are linked to a well-known brand or famous name. This clickbait approach automatically increases the reach of these narratives.
“If Zelenska is accused of corruption, embezzling funds and spending them lavishly, for example, on jewelry, it will be jewelry from Cartier because it’s a recognizable brand, and mentioning it has the potential to expand the reach. Or, if the Zelenskyy family allegedly purchased real estate, it will supposedly be a villa — say, one owned by Sting because Sting is a globally known name. Russian disinformation tries to leverage his fame to reach a broader audience. Looking closer, it’s almost the same template every time. They just take the most impactful frame and tweak some details — today, it’s Sting’s villa, tomorrow, it might be Goebbels’s villa, and then maybe a property near Angelina Jolie’s, and so on. They repeatedly use this unimaginative formula,” said Maksym Vikhrov.
The fake story about Olena Zelenska wearing Cartier jewelry worth $1.1 million
Notably, the Cartier jewelry fabrication about Ukraine’s First Lady circulated through the Nigerian publication The Nation, which published alleged photos of receipts for Zelenska’s supposed purchases from jewelry stores during an official visit to the U.S. As reported by Detector Media’s DisinfoChronicle project, the “receipt” promoted by propagandists was dated September 22, 2023; however, on that day, Olena and Volodymyr Zelenskyy were in Canada on an official visit, making it physically impossible for her to be shopping in New York jewelry stores. Prior to their trip to Canada, the Ukrainian president and first lady had visited Washington, D.C., where they attended the Pentagon Memorial and held several meetings, including one with Jill Biden.
The Instagram account where the fake testimony from a supposed former Cartier salon employee was posted was created just days before the hoax, according to CSCIS analysts. Fact-checkers at VoxChek found that the woman in the photo was actually a student from Saint Petersburg.
Russians also spread the fabrication that the Zelenskyy family purchased a villa next to Angelina Jolie’s estate
Another such fabrication emerged in September 2023. Propagandists invented a story claiming that the Zelenskyy family had bought a $5 million villa in Egypt next to Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s estate.
“This is a fake. The journalist provides no objective evidence of a villa owned by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s mother-in-law. The Office of the President of Ukraine denied reports that the Zelenskyy family or their parents own any property in Egypt,” VoxChek fact-checkers stated at the time.
This rumor spread so widely that Serhiy Leshchenko, an advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, later refuted it. He addressed it in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
Another fabrication claimed that the Zelenskyy family purchased a villa that once belonged to Joseph Goebbels
In December 2023, Russian Telegram channels spread a hoax alleging that the Zelenskyy family had purchased Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels’s villa for 8 million euros. This information supposedly originated from a former employee of the consulting firm BIM, Sabine Mels. However, efforts to verify Mels’s identity and connection to BIM were unsuccessful, casting doubt on her existence. The Goebbels villa hoax was subsequently spread by pro-Russian sources, including the Nigerian outlet Independent and the website OKV e.V., known for its pro-Russian rhetoric.
Russians also fabricated a story that Olena Zelenska bought an extremely expensive Bugatti
In the summer of this year, propagandists began spreading on social media the claim that Olena Zelenska had purchased a luxurious Bugatti Tourbillon car for nearly 4.5 million euros. The source of this information was allegedly French media, with confirmation from a Bugatti dealership employee in Paris. However, this was also a fake.
Polish fact-checkers from Demagog took note, with DisinfoChroncle from Detector Media also covering the story. Fact-checkers revealed that the source of this claim was the French website veritecachee.fr, which, at first glance, appears to be a standard news site but is actually a tool for spreading Russian propaganda.
In an interview with Detector Media, journalist Yuliya Zabielina, who writes extensively about the U.S. and organizes advocacy trips there, mentioned that many Americans actually believe these stories about the Bugatti and similar items. The biggest issue, she noted, is that even those who support Ukraine often believe these falsehoods.
Narrative Two: “Olena Zelenska Commits Crimes Against Children”
Russians have long spread the myth of the “crucified boy” and claim that Ukraine has been “bombing Donbas children for eight years.” This theme gained even more traction, according to Maksym Vikhrov, after the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of abducting Ukrainian children. As a result, enemy disinformation campaigns now attempt to deflect attention from these well-known and justified accusations of real crimes by assigning similar offenses to Ukrainian leadership, including Ukraine’s First Lady.
“Olena Zelenska faces some of the most aggressive and malicious attacks surrounding alleged crimes against children, with accusations directed at her and her foundation. Russian propaganda shows no restraint, fabricating stories claiming that through Zelenska’s foundation, children from frontline areas of Ukraine are being illegally transported to the West for either adoption or organ trafficking. There are numerous fake stories alleging that Olena Zelenska’s foundation is part of an organized child sex-trafficking network to the West, with Ukrainian children supposedly ending up with pedophiles in Britain, France, or the U.S.,” Vikhrov continued. “It’s absolute insanity, and all of it has been debunked. It’s poorly constructed and looks utterly implausible. But there’s one problem anyone who tries to work with information and strategize for the future must keep in mind: fakes about crimes against children are being aggressively promoted by the so-called Foundation for Fight Against Repression — a Russian organization, essentially just a website with no actual organization, created back during Yevgeny Prigozhin’s time and part of the troll factory ecosystem. It’s now operated by Mira Terada, who is presented in Russian propaganda media as a human rights activist, investigator, and journalist. They constantly push these narratives, essentially making up bizarre articles filled with grave accusations and then spreading them in multiple languages.”
Russian propaganda falsely claims that Olena Zelenska sells children to pedophiles
The impact of these fabrications is not immediately obvious, and at first glance, they may not lead to any concrete consequences. The issue, however, lies in the sheer volume and repetitiveness of these fakes, which, although debunked by fact-checkers, create a pervasive atmosphere of negativity and distrust around Olena Zelenska, the analyst noted.
“This is why it is crucial to routinely debunk these fakes, even though it’s not particularly exciting work. The first fake might be interesting to debunk, but by the time you get to the 21st, and they all follow the same pattern, it becomes a mechanical task. Yet it has to be done to prevent a buildup of an atmosphere of suspicion,” explained Maksym Vikhrov.
Who This Information Campaign Targets
These fabrications, according to the analyst, almost perfectly mirror the QAnon conspiracy theory that has spread in the United States among Trump supporters. “Followers of this theory believe that Western elites are Satan-worshipping individuals who either abuse children, drink their blood, or do both in various forms. It’s a far-fetched theory, but unfortunately, it has its adherents, and I believe it deserves further analysis and investigation,” he remarked.
By spreading lies about Olena Zelenska, Russia is effectively catering to QAnon supporters. However, Olena Zelenska is not the only victim of these information attacks. For example, just last month, the Foundation for Fight Against Repression published an article alleging that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are also involved in child sex trafficking. All these Russian hoaxes are clearly aimed at specific audiences that are susceptible to such messages.
“Adherents of conspiracy theories are people whose media literacy is not just low — it’s in the negatives, and these negatives are significant. Russia targets people with highly distorted perceptions of reality, and there’s no way we can convince them otherwise through fact-checking or debunking. If we show a fact-checking pamphlet to a QAnon adherent, for example, who believes that Kamala Harris or Olena Zelenska is trafficking children, what conclusion will they reach? They’ll conclude that we’re part of this global establishment, that Ukraine is a puppet of Western pedophile-satanists, and that we’re trying to suppress the truth they think only they know. Our methods simply don’t work on that audience,” said Maksym Vikhrov.
However, this does not mean that the fight against information operations is pointless. Firstly, these fakes must indeed be debunked, even if it feels like routine work. According to the analyst, this approach helps populate the information space with reliable information. Often, people only become aware of certain fakes through their debunking. In this sense, fact-checkers work proactively.
More importantly, it is essential to build strategic communications both domestically and internationally, as strategic communications are not just about delivering a specific set of messages but also about building trust within societies and among international stakeholders. In this context, Maksym Vikhrov explains, fabrications about Olena Zelenska are less likely to tarnish her image fully. Yet, this doesn’t mean we can afford to relax and do nothing. If we don’t keep pedaling, the bicycle will stop moving, the expert concludes.
Main photo by Getty Images; photo of Maksym Vikhrov provided by the organizers of the DisOut: Pushing Manipulation out of the Information Space conference; other images are screenshots from the CSCIS study.
