Fake BBC report claims Ukraine’s first lady tried to escape abroad
A clip circulating online purporting to be a BBC News report about the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, trying to flee abroad to escape “an aggravated relationship” with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is fake.
The BBC confirmed the clip is not a genuine report by the media outlet, and we could find no credible sources reporting these claims.
The short video features various images and clips of Ms Zelenska with both audio and overlaid text that claims: “Olena Zelenska is unavailable to the media due to her failed escape attempt. The Ukrainian president’s wife has been planning her escape for the past six months and has already had arrangements with a European country to grant her political asylum. However, the plan was uncovered by a personal group of SBU handlers.
“As of today, Olena Zelenska is under SBU protection, and her whereabouts are kept secret from the general public. The alleged reason for the escape is the aggravated relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of unspecified political disagreements.”
The SBU refers to Ukraine’s intelligence services.
But a BBC spokesperson told Full Fact in an email: “This is not BBC journalism. Whenever we are notified about fabricated content that impersonates the BBC we take the necessary action. We encourage everyone to use credible, trusted sources of news.”
We could find no such clip on the BBC News website or social media channels, and there does not appear to be any credible reporting making the claims in the clip. The Ukraine government’s Center for Countering Disinformation has said the claims in the clip are false.
Although the fake report uses the same white font, logo and graphics as genuine BBC News clips, it is slightly different to the style of more recent BBC reports where the text is presented in a white box.
This is not the first time we’ve come across ‘imposter content’—fake content that appears to be from credible organisations, particularly media organisations—including other clips purporting to be BBC News, as well as Euronews and USA Today.
