Shared millions of times on X: Zelenskyj treats himself to a luxury villa in Florida

According to several social media users and Kremlin-aligned media outlets, Zelensky left Ukraine to seek asylum in the United States.

The question of whether or not to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression has become a point of debate in the US Congress. Some Republicans in the House of Representatives are threatening to cut off further aid to Ukraine.

It didn’t take long for Kremlin-aligned accounts to take advantage of the situation, claiming Ukrainian President Zelensky had “emptied the US treasury.”

Does Zelensky own a villa in Vero Beach, Florida?

A post by far-right activist and former Republican Senate candidate Lauren Witzke has been shared nearly 10 million times on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In it, Witzke says Zelensky is considering fleeing Ukraine after buying a $20 million home in Florida.

The post shows a copy of the president’s US citizenship certificate and pictures of the villa he allegedly bought.

To verify these claims, we first conducted a house image search. The house featured in the post is located on Ponte Vedra Beach, about 300 kilometers from Zelensky’s alleged new villa.

As of December 20, the mansion was still available for nearly $11 million.

In the United States, all real estate transaction documents are public and accessible online. The home in question was purchased in 2019 for $6.3 million. It was sold to an Atlanta couple in finance who still own it today.

Has Zelensky applied for US citizenship?

A document showing the Ukrainian president’s application for US citizenship was also forged.

Another image search led us to a customizable template available online. When we saw the photo, we knew it was from Official website of the Ukrainian government Comes from.

We observed other anomalies such as: b. The certificate does not include Zelenskyy’s middle name Oleksandrowych or his signature, which is required by law.