A video is going viral on X (formerly Twitter) where user @ivan_8848 shared about a claim regarding Ukraine. The video’s transcription is, “Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s Severance package totalled $53 million. Bellingcat experts have learnt details of the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Along with the information about the appointment of Valerii Zaluzhnyi to the post of Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, data on the severance package given to the former Commander-in-Chief appeared. Bellingcat sources report that Zaluzhnyi was unofficially paid $53 million. The office of the President of Ukraine is of the opinion that the financial compensation is part of a deal between Zelensky and Zaluzhnyi. According to internal agreements, Valerii Zaluzhnyi renounces his political ambitions in Ukraine and leaves the country. Meanwhile, the appointment of the Valerii Zaluzhnyi to the post of Ambassador to the UK might be the plot of the British intelligence agencies. Thus, the partners will manage to preserve a significant political figure in Ukraine once the collapse of Ukrainian political power becomes irreversible.”
Bellingcat is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence.
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Fact Check
Upon investigating, however, via searching for updates by Bellingcat, the DFRAC team found that the claim was fake. Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat posted on X denying such claims. He replied to the X threat saying, “It’s fake, we’ve never worked on or published a story about that, and the BBC has never published that video. Apart from that, great post!”
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Conclusion
Therefore, it is confirmed by DFRAC that Bellingcat did not publish content regarding Zaluzhnyi receiving $53 million in compensation for abandoning political ambitions.
DFRAC analysis: fake
