In mid-February 2025, Russian Telegram channels reported that the Ukrainian authorities were going to supply chicken eggs to the American market in order to continue military and financial support from Washington. We have verified the accuracy of such posts.
Publications with headlines like “Ukraine is ready to send its eggs to the United States” were widely distributed on the Internet on February 16. Judging by these reports, the Ukrainian authorities proposed an unusual idea to their American partners: they cover the shortage of chicken eggs that has appeared in the United States, and they, in turn, maintain financial and military assistance programs. The Washington Post was cited as the source of this information.
Telegram channels spoke about the supply of eggs in exchange for weapons “Ax Live"(843,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Live broadcast • news" (803 000), "Evil proof️"(230,000), "Newsach / Dvach"(214,000), "Uncle Slava"(175,000), "Barrel of black caviar" (163,000), "Voblya • news"(147,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(122,000), etc.
Back in the fall of 2024, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky suggested Western partners to continue to support the country in order to then jointly develop Ukrainian natural resources. In early February 2025, US President Donald Trump statedthat is interested in such a deal. It was reported that the agreement could be signed at the Munich Security Conference, which was held on February 14–16. However, Zelensky refused to do this, since the document did not contain security guarantees for Ukraine (but, as later found out The media assumed extremely unfavorable conditions for Kyiv). After this, the relationship between the two leaders was noticeably worsened, but February 25 Financial Times And other publications reported that the countries had agreed on the terms of the deal. Expectedthat it will be approved on February 28.
As the Telegram channels mentioned above correctly reported, in the United States in recent months worsened shortage of chicken eggs. First of all, experts explain, it is caused by an epidemic of bird flu, due to which in December-January the country killed more than 41 million chickens. Egg prices have reached record levels, and in some regions they have practically disappeared from store shelves. Against this background, American companies are increasing imports from Turkey - according to CNN, the only country where the United States buys eggs.
Viral publications about the unusual Ukrainian initiative do not indicate which particular Washington Post article it was presented in. Apparently, this refers to the publication published on February 15 under the heading “Ukraine rejected Trump's initial request for half of its mineral wealth" It is based, among other things, on the words of Ukrainian officials who spoke with journalists on condition of anonymity. Recounting a conversation with one of them, the newspaper writes: “A high-ranking Ukrainian official joked that the country’s leadership is ready to consider almost any measures to preserve American aid, including, as the official said, a massive supply of Ukrainian eggs. There is an abundance of them in the country, and management is aware of the sharply increased prices in the United States.”
In other words, The Washington Post emphasized the frivolity of the statement, and the position of the author of these words remains unknown outside the newspaper’s editorial office. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities have not publicly made official statements regarding the export of eggs to the United States in exchange for weapons. Nevertheless, the joke of the unnamed official became the basis for further manipulations.
The Washington Post article was published on February 15 at around 19:30 Moscow time, and a few hours later messages about the exchange of Ukrainian eggs for American military aid began to spread on Telegram. The earliest one publication, which was found by “Verified,” appeared on February 16 at 01:36 on the RIA Novosti: USA channel (53,000 views), while its authors noted the humorous nature of the statement. However, after 13 minutes appeared post in the War Zone channel (13,000), where this important detail was ignored. Further, the news was distributed in precisely this distorted form. Note that while pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, apparently, deliberately omitted the irony of the phrase, the media, as a rule, still pointed this out, but only at the very end of their notes with manipulative headlines.
However, this is not the end of the story with the alleged supply of Ukrainian eggs to the United States. On February 19, other posts appeared: allegedly, Verkhovna Rada deputy and member of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Dmitry Solomchuk offered to exchange eggs for Patriot air defense systems. Telegram channels wrote about this “Operation Z: military correspondents of the Russian spring"(494,000), "Truthfulness"(198,000), "Ukraine.ru"(124,000), etc.
As evidence, a 30-second excerpt from Solomchuk’s interview is provided, which he gave Ukrainian portal “Novini.Live” on February 18. Then the deputy said that if the United States needed help, Ukrainian farmers would definitely respond and send them eggs, and added: “In exchange for the Patriots, our chickens would start laying eggs two to three times faster.” However, both from the reaction of the presenter and from the intonations of the politician, it is noticeable that he is being ironic. Moreover, half a minute before the fragment published by Telegram channels, the presenter sets Solomchuk has this question: “Some on the Internet are now joking that we can exchange eggs for Patriot. So what are the chances that Ukrainian eggs will see the American market?” So this time, too, the pro-Kremlin media kept silent about the comic nature of the statement made by a representative of the Ukrainian authorities.
Thus, there is no evidence that Ukraine has officially offered to export eggs in exchange for US military assistance. Such publications are based on a joke by an anonymous Ukrainian official from his commentary to The Washington Post, which was subsequently spread in pro-Kremlin sources as a real initiative.
Cover photo: Unsplash
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