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| - A rumor TikTok and X users shared online in early March 2025 claimed a video showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying of U.S. President Donald Trump either "F*** him" or "F*** Trump" to reporters just prior to greeting U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer outside 10 Downing Street. The clip featured a bleep noise during Zelenskyy's supposed spoken expletive.
However, Zelenskyy did not use any expletives about Trump when speaking to journalists during the walk from his motorcade to greet Starmer. The claim is false. Further, the video exhibited potential signs that its originator used an artificial-intelligence tool to create many of its elements.
An unedited video (archived) showing the same moment featured an unidentified reporter asking, "Mr. President, how was the trip? How do you feel?," and Zelenskyy responding, "Ok. Thank you so much."
The TikTok user who originated the video did not yet respond to a request for comment.
Questions about Russian state reporter's presence in Oval Office
Starmer warmly received Zelenskyy in London on March 1 — more than three years after Russia invaded Ukraine — saying Zelenskyy's country had the "full backing across the United Kingdom," and adding, "We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take."
Zelenskyy's meeting with Starmer was just one day after an Oval Office meeting in which U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance loudly berated the Ukrainian president in front of journalists, including a reporter for the Russian state outlet TASS not authorized to participate in the day's press pool — a group of journalists traditionally limited in number to report on the matters of the day, providing information to other reporters not included in the group.
Reuters reported on Feb. 28 that the White House did not respond to its questions about how the TASS reporter gained entry to the Oval Office.
On March 3, a White House spokesperson responded to Snopes by email within two minutes to the question of how the TASS reporter managed to get into the Oval Office — by sending a 3-day-old statement drafted before the cancellation of the Feb. 28 news conference with Trump and Zelenskyy. The White House originally scheduled the news conference to follow the Oval Office meeting.
The White House statement read: "TASS was not on the approved list of media for today's pool. As soon as it came to the attention of press office staff that he was in the Oval, he was escorted out by the Press Secretary. He is not on the approved list for the press conference."
The White House did not immediately respond to a second email asking once again how the TASS reporter gained entry, as well as inquiring about who failed in their responsibility to ensure only that day's pool members participated. The U.S. Secret Service also did not yet respond by email to a similar question. We will update this story if they do.
Zelenskyy rumor partially fueled by AI
TikTok user @daily.uk.news4 first shared the false rumor about Zelenskyy using an expletive regarding Trump in a video (archived) posted on March 2. The clip displayed the false on screen caption, "Daily UK News. Breaking News: 'F* Him!' - Zelensky's Unfiltered Response to Trump Caught on Camera Before Downing Street Talks."
The video featured a story and voice narration likely generated by artificial intelligence. Not only did the story appear AI-generated based on a general reading of the text, but a scan of the text on an AI-detection website — the types of website that provides a data point but not absolute confirmation — also estimated a "100 percent" determination of "AI content found." The user who created the video also possibly tasked AI with automatically selecting clips and performing all of the editing.
The AI-generated script appeared both in the TikTok video's audio narration and the text description:
Zelensky's Explosive 'F Him' Moment: A Diplomatic Crisis Unfolds
Breaking News: A diplomatic firestorm has erupted after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was caught on camera delivering an unfiltered response to Donald Trump. As he arrived at 10 Downing Street for high-stakes talks with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a reporter asked about Trump's latest remarks on Ukraine. Zelensky, smirking, muttered just loud enough to be heard: "F him."*
The clip has since gone viral, sending shockwaves across global politics. This comes after a disastrous Washington meeting where Trump accused Ukraine of "gambling with World War Three" and cast doubt on continued U.S. support. Now, with tensions at an all-time high, European leaders are stepping in to contain the fallout.
Inside No. 10, Starmer reaffirmed the U.K.'s unwavering commitment to Ukraine, stating, "We stand with Ukraine. We will not waver." But beyond diplomacy, all eyes are now on Trump. Will he fire back, escalating the divide? Or has this moment fundamentally shifted global alliances?
With a major European summit scheduled tomorrow, the world waits to see how this confrontation will shape the future of Western support for Ukraine. Stay tuned.
Later on March 2, a user on X with more than 1.6 million followers shared the same TikTok video — from a different repost (archived) on X — in a post (archived) displaying the caption, "Zelensky says, 'f*** Trump' to a reporter on his way to a meeting in the U.K." Some posts promoting the false rumor on X received millions of views.
This rumor stood as one of many different claims users spread about Zelenskyy in the years since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
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