This news has not been confirmed by any reliable sources. The first to report that Zelenska’s fund was allegedly involved in child trafficking schemes were two uncredible publications that had previously spread disinformation about Ukraine and various conspiracy theories. The author of one of the publications does not even exist and uses the photo of an unrelated Canadian writer
Many Russian media, citing The Intel Drop, have spread information that the foundation of Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, is allegedly involved in child trafficking schemes. The author of The Intel Drop claims that Zelenska, under the pretext of saving children, allegedly sent orphans to pedophiles in various European countries — France, Great Britain, Germany.
«During a complex investigation, the newspaper writes, it became clear: under the guise of evacuation measures, dozens of children were stolen from Ukraine, many of whom ended up in a pedophile network. As evidenced by the shocking testimony of a fund employee, Zelenska’s non-profit organization systematically handed over children to pedophiles in France, Great Britain and Germany», MK.ru writes.
Screenshot — mk.ru
This is not the first time that Ukraine’s first lady has been in spotlight of the Russian media. Previously, the Kremlin propaganda repeatedly accused Olena Zelenska of luxurious spending habits, which StopFake covered in the stories: Fake: Ukrainian President’s Wife Spent More Than a Million Dollars on Cartier Jewellery and Fake: Olena Zelenska Spent 40 Thousand Euros on Christmas Shopping During a Business Visit to Paris. Then they used the alleged witnesses testimony as evidence, but this time propaganda spread their disinformation through an English-language site with a very dubious reputation.
Russian media in their publications refer to an article in the online edition of The Intel Drop, which was published on November 5, 2023. However, an earlier version of this publication can be found online. On November 4, an article titled Olena Zelenska’s Organization Accused of Child Trafficking Scandal, Insider Confesses appeared on The DC Weekly website. Both publications are based on an anonymous video on the YouTube channel @LD98320 of an alleged «former driver» of Zelenska’s foundation, who claims he drove children to «foster families» where they were sexually exploited. This is the only video on this YouTube channel.
These reports are not confirmed by any reliable source and have all the signs of a planned information attack against Ukraine’s first lady.
First of all, the Internet source The Intel Drop has repeatedly spread false information. In April 2023, this site published a fabricated news story that a Russian Dagger missile allegedly destroyed a secret NATO operational command bunker near Lviv. Many conspiracy theories and pro-Kremlin articles are still up on the site.
Communications Advisor to the Ukrainian President’s Office Head, Darya Zarivna, drew attention to the fact that this site was created in September 2022, probably by Russian special services. This site, like many similar ones, is used by the Kremlin to make its propaganda look more believable.
Screenshot — t.me/dashazarivna
As for The DC Weekly, that site also publishes a lot of conspiracy lore. The author of the publication about Zelenska’s foundation is Jessica Devlin. However, we could not find any information about this «outstanding and widely known journalist whose career has taken her to the most critical and difficult regions of the world.» What’s more, by doing a reverse Google image search, we were able to find out that the photo allegedly of Jessica Devlin is most likely that of Canadian author Judy Batalion.
Screenshot – dcweekly.org
Screenshot – jta.org
It is with mentioning that the authors made the same errors in both articles. For example, in both cases, the name of the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, who is accused in the publications of allegedly abusing minors, is misspelled.
Earlier, propagandists spread misinformation that 170 Ukrainian teenagers had allegedly gone missing in the Netherlands.
