Fact Check: President Trump Did NOT Say Ukraine Must Compensate Russia For Aircraft Destroyed In June 1, 2025, Drone Attacks

Did President Trump say that Ukraine must compensate Russia for the aircraft it destroyed in a June 1, 2025, drone attack on Russian air bases? No, that’s not true: There is no record of President Trump posting these words on his social media accounts or saying them publicly. A Google search for the quote finds it only on social media posts not related to Trump. No news media reported the quote, although the photo on the meme of Trump speaking in the Oval Office would suggest he said it there in front of journalists.

The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X by @OlenaRohoza on June 1, 2025. The post read:

Trump stated that Ukraine must compensate Russia for the destroyed aircraft.

‘They were just sitting there, not bothering anyone. If the Ukrainians had shot them down during a combat mission, that would be a different matter. But they were just sitting there. It’s like hitting someone who’s already down,’ said the President of the United States.

🤔
Is he seriously a f*cking idiot?

Yes or No?

This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:

(Source: screenshot of X by Lead Stories)

Lead Stories found no evidence that this was a real quote from President Trump. A Google search (archived here), a review of Trump’s Truth Social and X accounts, and a search of White House transcripts (archived here) did not uncover any sign of Trump actually uttering the quote.

A Google News search for the phrase “They were just sitting there, not bothering anyone.” and “Trump” did not return any news stories mentioning the quote (archived here).

Trump’s Truth, a website that archives Trump’s Truth Social posts, did not include any results (archived here) with the phrase either.