At the end of February 2025, reports began to spread in social networks that to sign the contract on rare earth metals, the Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States for its money - for the first time the White House refused to cover expenses at the invitation of foreign guests. We checked the reliability of this story.

The publications that the Ukrainian side had to independently pay for a visit related to the signing of an agreement on rare -earth metals, widely dispersed on February 28, on the day of the meeting in the White House. Judging by them, the administration of Donald Trump for the first time in history refused to cover the costs of an invited delegation. After the skirmish that occurred in the oval office, the Ukrainian side supposedly had to urgently leave the country at their own expense. The primary source of this information is called the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal.

Telegram channels shared the news "NE.SAHAR"(274,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), Colonelcassad (249,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(129,000),"The first folk | News"(113,000),"Oleg Tsarev"(101 000),"Cat Kostyan"(90 000),"Z-News | Army Z 18+"(71 000) and others.

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky He came In Washington on February 28, to sign an agreement on the extraction of rare earth metals. It became known about this trip a couple of days before the event, on February 26, the White House officially confirmed invitation. During the meeting between Zelensky, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Jay Di Wans happened A dispute, after which the Ukrainian leader left the White House ahead of schedule.

Despite the fact that the meeting did not go according to the plan, up to the conflict in the oval office, the receiving party behaved politely and in accordance with diplomatic protocols in relation to Ukrainian colleagues. Trump personally Meet Zelensky at the entrance to the White House, and at the beginning of the meeting declaredWhat is the honor of taking a colleague in Washington. Such a manifestation of respect is a generally accepted practice, but it is unlikely that the meeting could begin as usual after the first refusal in the history of refusal to cover the costs of the delegation.

When planning official visits of the heads of state to the United States, the receiving party usually beret The costs associated with the stay of the delegation in the country, including accommodation, domestic transport and the organization of official events. The planning department is responsible for the US State Department of the US State Department. However, in open sources there is no information about cases where the administration refused to cover the costs of any foreign delegation.

As evidence that the Trump administration decided not to pay the visit of Zelensky at the end of February, the screenshot of The Wall Street Journal is distributed on social networks. If you believe the image, the material is called UKRaine Paid for Its Delegation's Visit and Stay in the U.S. ("Ukraine paid for the visit and stay of its delegation to the United States"). The subtitle says that this is the first time when the Trump administration refused to cover the costs of a foreign delegation. Search by keywords on the official website of the publication showedthat today there are no articles with such a heading. There is no similar information in the verified accounts of the publication on social networks (X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube).

It can be assumed that WSJ hid a note from his site. It became known about the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States a couple of days before the event. Given that the screenshot began to spread on February 28, on the day of the meeting itself, they could publish a note with such a heading on the same day. Judging by the screenshot, the news was posted in the Policy brown. In the Internet Archive service Saved A copy of this page for the 28th, it was made at 13:56 GMT (16:56 Moscow time), that is, even before Zelensky Arrived In the White House. In the archival version, publication with such a heading is also absent.

In other authoritative sources, there is also no information that the expenses of the Ukrainian delegation were not covered. All this suggests that the screenshot of Wall Street Journal, apparently, was forged.

The fabricated image for the first time appeared In the Telegram channel "Odessa Za Victory" on February 28 at 16:17 Moscow time, after which it began to disperse on other accounts. In the evening of the same day, the same fake picture of the screen spread in English -speaking accounts on the social network X, some publications Hundreds of thousands of views scored. Channel "Odessa ZA Victory" regularly Found In the analysis of “verified” as a distributor and primary source of fake information.

A few days later, the same story again spread in social networks - this time with reference to the video allegedly created by Bloomberg. On March 2–3, Telegram channels posted a plot that states that the Ukrainian delegation for the first time paid for its arrival and stay in the United States. It also appeared additional information from the professor of the Southern University of Utah, Howard Howard Sheh Min Ming Hu. Judging by the video, he said that usually such meetings cost the American budget $ 4-7 million. This entry did not spread so actively - it appeared in the channels "Odessa ZA Victory"(5000 views),"Ukrop Fresh"(5000) and"Sower"(3000).

Viral video. Source: social networks

However, the video also turned out to be fake: Bloomberg never Not published such information and this video in their verified accounts in YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. Howard Sho Min Minh, who is mentioned as an expert, indeed professor Southern University of Utah. He teaches the basics of the hotel business, specializes in international cuisine and cooking. It is unlikely that such a specialization could be useful when selecting an expert for a comment on the refusal to pay for the arrival of the Ukrainian delegation in the United States. Nevertheless, “verified” could not be found in the open sources of any confirmation that HU commented for Bloomberg.

Like the screenshot of WSJ, this video is the first Published The Odessa ZA Victory channel on March 2 at 11:33 pm Moscow time, but the video did not go beyond the Russian-speaking Telegram channels.

Thus, authoritative American publications did not report that the Trump administration for the first time in history refused to cover the expenses of the Ukrainian delegation to stay in the United States. Both the WSJ screenshot and the Bloomberg video are fake.

Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons / The White House