At the end of November 2023, news spread in the media and social networks that the President of Ukraine allegedly purchased two yachts with money allocated by the United States to support Kyiv. We decided to check if these reports are true.
The news began to spread in Russian Telegram channels on November 28. The bloggers referred to an investigation according to which in October 2023, people from Zelensky’s inner circle purchased two yachts worth a total of $75 million. Telegram channels, in particular, wrote about this “Sanya in Florida"(398,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Solovyov" (300,000), "Ukraine.ru" (142,000) and "Ostashko! Important"(109,000). Also, an article entitled “Zelensky was caught buying luxury yachts for $75 million” was published by “Komsomolskaya Pravda"
Most Telegram channels referred to the publication DC Weekly, in which it appeared article about “Zelensky’s luxurious life” and “wasted American aid.” Such a publication actually exists on this site, its author is Jessica Devlin. This edition is already was noticed in the dissemination of fakes about Ukraine - at the beginning of November 2023, a publication appeared there that the Elena Zelenskaya Foundation was allegedly associated with child trafficking. At the same time, “Verified” also wrote about the author of the article about yachts: Jessica Devlin not only has a fake biography, but also a photograph belonging to a completely different person.
However, the DC Weekly article is not the primary source of the story about Zelensky’s yachts. The site refers to an investigation by journalist Shahzad Nasir. On November 23 he published on YouTube video dedicated to yachts allegedly purchased for Zelensky, and also posted a link to the video on his account in social networks X. At the time of writing this analysis, no other videos have appeared on Nasir’s YouTube channel, and the channel has a total of 129 subscribers. This author's X profile states that he is a journalist working full-time for the Emirates 24/7 website. However, on this portal there is no mention of Shahzad Nasir, nor an article about Zelensky’s yachts.
Thus, the primary source of the news is the video in YouTube, no earlier mentions could be found.
The video tells that the author managed to find documents indicating the sale of two yachts: Lucky Me and My Legacy. Such yachts really exist. Lucky Me produced by the Italian company Baglietto and offered for sale by Behnemar for €23 million ($25.2 million). My Legacy, also produced in Italy, costs more - €44.9 million ($49.4 million). It is sold by Burgess. Both yachts are still available for purchase - BBC fact-checking service Verify contacted Behnemar and Burgess and found outthat no one was buying yachts at the time of publication of the allegedly revealing video.
However, the author of the video substantiates his statements with the help of documents - acts of purchase of yachts approved by the Mediterranean Association of Yacht Brokers. As follows from the documents shown in the video, Lucky Me was bought by Boris Shefir, and My Legacy was bought by Sergey Shefir.
The Shefir brothers have known Vladimir Zelensky for a long time; they were partners in the company “Studio Kvartal-95”, which produces films, TV series and TV shows in Ukraine. After Zelensky won the presidential election in 2019, Sergei Shefir became his adviser. In 2021, as a result of the Pandora Archive leak it became knownthat Zelensky and the Shefirs owned their own network of offshore companies.
However, there are a number of inaccuracies in the documents shown in the video about yachts. First of all, the Mediterranean Association of Yacht Brokers doesn't exist since 2008, now it is called World Yachting Association. In addition, the documents bear the old logo of the organization.
Finally, in the World Yachting Association itself, the agency’s fact-checking service Associated Press They said that the form of the document was outdated and such an agreement could not be valid. Association general secretary Jane Adlington-Brumer said the forms had not been used since 2012, adding that both yachts remained for sale. The document template shown in the video can be found in open access - this is probably what the author used.
Thus, reports that Zelensky or people from his inner circle purchased two yachts are untrue. The yachts are still for sale, and the purchase documents used as evidence are fakes.
Cover photo: behnemar.com
- Associated Press. Ukraine’s Zelenskyy did not purchase two luxury yachts in October. They're still up for sale
- Correctiv. Nein, Wolodymyr Selenskyj kaufte keine Luxusyachten für 75 Millionen US-Dollar
- Is it true that Elena Zelenskaya spent €40,000 on boutique shopping during her visit to Paris?
- Is it true that Zelenskaya spent more than $1 million on jewelry during her visit to New York?
- Is it true that the Elena Zelenskaya Foundation is associated with child trafficking?
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