Is it true that eight mansions of Ukrainian generals burned down in Los Angeles?

In mid-January 2025, information circulated on the Internet that California fires had destroyed several villas belonging to high-ranking Ukrainian military personnel. We decided to check how valid this message is.

It was reported that a fire in California caused damage to the elite real estate of Ukrainian generals.Gazeta.ru", Lenta.ru, "Moskovsky Komsomolets", Life.ru, "Komsomolskaya Pravda"and other Russian media. The burnt villas and their owners were also discussed by social network users (“VKontakte", X, Facebook) and blogging platforms (“Peekaboo", "Zen"). The authors of the publications emphasized that the mansions were built with funds allocated by Western countries for military support of Ukraine. Many large Telegram channels covered the news in a similar spirit: “Putin on Telegram"(201,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Ostashko! Important"(181,000), "Ukraine.ru" (148,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(141,000), "Kirill Fedorov / war history weapons"(123,000), etc. 

At the time of writing this analysis fires in Los Angeles and its suburbs, which have been raging since January 7 and which US President Joe Biden has already named most destructive in California history, completely destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 buildings, including residential buildings, schools and administrative buildings. Media reportedthat many Hollywood stars lost their mansions in the fire: Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges and others. However, neither the local, nor Ukrainian, nor reputable international media could find news about the burned-out real estate of Ukrainian military personnel.

The earliest publication of this information that “Verified” found was a post in the Telegram channel “Military observer"(74,000 views), appeared on January 11, 2025 at 20:07 Moscow time. This source is also referred to by most of the Russian media that wrote on this topic. The authors of the post, in turn, claim that they took the information from certain Ukrainian resources, but do not provide their names or links. It was not possible to find earlier publications on this topic in other sources - Ukrainian or any other - as mentioned above. But after a few minutes similar posts appeared in others pro-Russian channels. At the same time, the “Military Observer” has been more than once caught in spreading disinformation and in many cases passing it off as news from Ukrainian sources. 

TO some (much rarer) posts on Telegram were attached with a 35-second video with the logo of United24, a platform launched by the Ukrainian authorities to collect donations for the needs of the warring country. The first such publication appeared approximately 15 minutes after the Military Observer message; it was posted in the channel “Odessa for victory!"(10,000 views).

The video is primarily a slideshow of photographs allegedly taken during the California fires, accompanied by voice-over music. The news itself is presented in English subtitles. Although they largely repeat the post of the Military Observer, they also provide some details: for example, that the mansions were allegedly acquired from April 2022 to February 2024 and belonged to members of the team of the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny (to whom exactly is not disclosed). If you believe the video, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has already asked its American colleagues for information about the details of the deal, and the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Mikhail Drapaty, commented on the situation as follows: “When you steal money from people fighting for their lives, be prepared that the fire of war will reach you even on another continent.”

Although the United24 logo appears in the video, neither website this crowdfunding platform, nor on website its media divisions, nor on its YouTube channel, neither in social networks project there is nothing like a viral video. On January 12, the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine published in its official account in X refutation that United24 has ever released a video like this. “The purpose of this lie is to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” noted in the department. However, the center’s messages do not discuss the content of the video in detail.

“Verified” was unable to confirm other information presented in the video from open sources. In particular, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine did not report in its official press releases, that he contacted the American authorities regarding the burnt-out mansions of Ukrainian generals. Drapatoy’s quote is also not available in open sources; it can only be found in the distributed video. 

Creating fake news reports with logos of reputable international media outlets is a popular technique of fake makers, which allows them to increase the audience’s trust in the disinformation they spread in this way. “Verified” has already analyzed similar videos many times - for example, from Reuters, Fox News, euronews etc., and especially often “gets” BBC. How notes Ukrainian fact-checking project StopFake, in recent months, they began to use the identity of the United24 project for the same purposes.

Thus, “Verified” could not find any credible sources that would say that the homes of high-ranking Ukrainian military personnel were actually damaged or completely destroyed in the California fires. The original source of the news is a post from a pro-Russian Telegram channel, which has previously been repeatedly seen spreading disinformation about Ukraine, and according to the same scenario - with reference to unnamed Ukrainian sources. 

Cover photo: Pacific Southwest Forest Service, USDA from USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. StopFake. Fake: All cottages of Ukrainian generals burned down near Los Angeles
2. Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Stars Who Have Lost Homes in the Devastating L.A. Wildfires
3. Corrupt Zelensky, bullying of the UOC, murdered NATO generals: what fakes about Ukraine were spread in 2024
4. Is it true that fires in Los Angeles cannot be extinguished because fire-fighting equipment was sent to Ukraine?