We came across the following video circulating on X:
According to the video, Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, was arrested while trying to flee the country. The video, stylised to resemble a BBC News broadcast, alleged that Zelenska had been secretly arranging political asylum in Europe due to a deteriorating relationship with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and that her plan was thwarted by a covert group of handlers from Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU.
The video’s captions and audio narration described how Zelenska had been preparing to leave Ukraine for six months and had already secured arrangements with an unnamed European country for asylum. It further claimed she was now under “strict SBU guard” with her location undisclosed, allegedly due to both personal and political disagreements with the President.
However, upon investigation, this claim quickly falls apart. There is no evidence of such an incident on any of the BBC’s official platforms—neither on their website nor their verified social media channels. Moreover, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, a government body under the National Security and Defense Council, has publicly refuted the video, describing it as fake and warning that it had originated from pro-Russian Telegram channels known for spreading falsehoods.
We also found a picture of Zelenska and Zelensky from an official visit to Finland dated 19 Mar 2025, making the claim seem even more unlikely.
This is not the first time narratives about Zelenska attempting to escape Ukraine have emerged. In recent weeks, multiple emails have been sent to Black Dot Research describing similar claims. These messages appear to be part of a coordinated campaign of disinformation.
The source of these repeated claims may lie in what the EU DisinfoLab has identified as Operation Overload, a Russian coordinated disinformation campaign targeting fact-checkers, journalists, and researchers globally. The operation aims to saturate credible news and verification systems with fabricated narratives, thereby exhausting the resources of those tasked with preserving truth in the public sphere. A key tactic of this campaign includes sending mass emails from sock puppet accounts with links to misleading or entirely false content that promotes the Kremlin’s political messaging. Sock puppet accounts refer to fake online identities used by people to disguise their true identities and manipulate a situation.
The use of high-profile figures—such as the First Lady of Ukraine—as the subject of such false narratives is consistent with the operation’s strategy: to create shock, stir controversy, and erode public trust in Ukrainian leadership.
In summary, the claim that Olena Zelenska has been arrested or that she attempted to flee Ukraine is false. The video in question is a manufactured piece of disinformation, crafted to mimic legitimate journalism and distributed through suspect channels as part of a broader information warfare effort.
