Trump Jr. did not publish such a story on Instagram.
Pro-Russian sources are sharing a screenshot from Donald Trump Jr.’s Instagram account. He allegedly shared a Newsweek publication with a quote from Volodymyr Zelensky that he does not plan to attend Trump’s inauguration, and wrote: «The funniest thing is that he unofficially asked for an invitation three times, and each time he was denied. Now he pretends that he himself decided not to go … what a weirdo.»
However, this screenshot is fake, and Donald Trump Jr. did not post anything like this. A search for the image on the Internet shows that the screenshot is circulating exclusively in pro-Kremlin sources: it was not published by any credible foreign or Ukrainian source. Moreover, there is not even such a post with a quote from Zelensky on Newsweek’s Instagram. We also checked the websites of several media outlets that had previously written about Donald Trump Jr.’s criticism of Zelensky, which he shared on his Instagram page — Politico, The Independent — and none of them mentioned such a statement by Trump Jr. It makes sense to assume that if the publication were real, at least one of these sources would have noticed the incident.
As a reminder, earlier in an interview with the American journalist of Ukrainian origin Lex Friedman, Volodymyr Zelensky said that he did not plan to come to the inauguration without a direct invitation: «I would like to, but I will look at what is happening with us now. I cannot come, especially in a time of war, unless President Trump directly invites me. It is simply rude.» Zelensky also drew attention to the fact that his arrival will require special security conditions, and that he does not want to cause trouble for the American side. Instead, teams from Ukraine and the United States are already working on the content and format of the upcoming meeting with Trump after his inauguration.
In general, there is an unspoken rule in American politics that foreign leaders are not invited to the presidential inauguration, sending only their representatives. Since 1874, when the US State Department has kept a list of foreign guests present at presidential inaugurations, no foreign leader has attended. However, this year, Donald Trump invited several presidents to the ceremony, mostly his ideological associates — in particular, Argentine President Javier Milley, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Italian leader Giorgia Meloni.
We refuted more Russian disinformation on Ukrainian-American relations in the article Fake: Zelensky Urged Los Angeles Authorities Not To Be Distracted by False Problems and Support Ukraine Financially.
