A photo of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting a city in eastern Ukraine two years ago has resurfaced with a false claim it showed him in the Kursk region in western Russia after Ukrainian forces launched a cross-border attack in August 2024. The picture in fact predates the offensive and shows him visiting the Kharkiv region to the east of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the first time since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Sudzha of Kursk region, Russia, which had just been occupied by Ukrainian troops, and met with representatives of the people there,” read the simplified Chinese post published on social media platform X on August 12, 2024.
It shared a Russian post on X which showed a photo of Zelensky standing alongside men garbed in military uniform.
The post emerged after Ukraine deployed thousands of troops in a major incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region on August 6 (archived link).
Ukraine has claimed fresh advances in its offensive into Russia, saying it seized over 1,100 square kilometres in the biggest attack by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II.
Ukraine said it now controlled dozens of settlements and Sudzha, a town eight kilometres (five miles) from the border.
The photo was also shared elsewhere on X here, here, here, here, and Facebook here.
However, it was taken in 2022 — more than two years before Ukraine launched the attack and there have been no credible reports that Zelensky has been to Sudzha or any part of the Kursk region as of August 15.
2022 photo
A reverse image search and subsequent keyword searches on Google found the same photo — distributed by the Ukrainian presidential office — published in AFP’s archives on May 29, 2022.
The caption of the photo said it was taken in Kharkiv, Ukraine and showed Zelensky visiting the houses and other structures destroyed by the clashes in the city and held a meeting with army officials.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared in the false X post (left) and the photo published by AFP (right):
AFP also reported in May 2022 that Zelensky visited the country’s war-ridden east for the first time since the Russian invasion, on a trip to the Kharkiv region (archived link).
