In March 2025, a video was widely spread, in which the president of France called the President of Ukraine during his communication with journalists. However, according to some Russian media and Telegram channels, the French authorities deny that such a call took place. We checked the reliability of these messages.
On March 19, during online breaking with journalists, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky received The bell, which, according to him, came from France President Emmanuel Macron. Zelensky apologized to his colleague, explaining that he was talking with media representatives, and promised to call back in 15–20 minutes. After the call was completed, he told reporters that he was talking to Macron almost daily, and emphasized that there is a very close relationship between Ukraine and France.
On March 21, reports began to appear that the Foreign Ministry of France allegedly stated: Macron did not interrupt the press conference of the President of Ukraine with his call. In most cases, the news is given without any link, some indicate the French BFMTV television channel as a source.
Similar publications appeared in Telegram channels "Open Ukraine | Open Ukraine"(417,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"NE.SAHAR"(266 000),"Zlaya Prof"(255,000),"Observer"(209 000),"Uncle Glory"(195 000),"Typical Odessa"(139 000),"Sheikh Tamir"(120 000),"Falcon"(113,000) and others, as well as in publications Eadaily, "Military Review" And "Komsomolskaya Pravda Moldova".
Zelensky and Macron are regularly found and conduct telephone conversations. Only in March, as follows from the statements of the press services of the two presidents, they called at least twice (14 And 17 Martha), two times met personally, as well as crossed At international events. Such an active communication is also explained by the efforts of the French leader in Kyiv’s support against the backdrop of Russian-American and Ukrainian-American negotiations on a possible ceasefire.
Moreover, back in 2022, the President of Ukraine told To journalists who agreed with several foreign colleagues, including Macron, on informal communication methods to resolve operational issues. This practice, which does not provide for the publication of press releases on negotiations, Zelensky called the iPhone diplomacy. It was on the smartphone of the Ukrainian president that a call received during a briefing with reporters at Zoom on the night of March 20. Corresponding fragment of the press conference Published "RBC - Ukraine."
Soon this video spread to Ukrainian, French And Russian Media. The latter often expressed doubt that it was Macron who called Zelensky. Although the President of Ukraine called the interlocutor Emmanuel, and then separately clarified for the journalists that the president of France called, the calls of the caller were not heard, and his name was not visible on the screen of the phone. As arguments, some resources indicated The fact that Macron simply cannot have the number of Zelensky’s personal phone, others directly They accused Ukrainian leader in the production. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev He called it The situation with a circus.
Publications with doubts about the veracity of the call began to appear especially actively after post French politics Florian Filippo. On the morning of March 20, he posted on the social network X video from the press conference of Zelensky and wrote that the presidents staged a telephone conversation, "to show how friendly they were." According to Filippo, this imitation was needed against the backdrop of the upcoming Zelensky trip to Paris, where Macron was supposed to announce a new package of helping Kyiv (apparently, negotiations were meant 26 and 27 March). The politician did not give any evidence of his words.
Filippo is the leader of the French lawyer Patriots, earlier occupied The post of deputy chairman of the Ultra -right party "National Front" (now "National Association") was a close associate of Marin Le Pen, the main Opponents Macron in the last two presidential elections in France. "Patriots", in particular, Promot The idea of the country's exit from the EU and NATO. Filippo repeatedly accused Macron in the excessive support of Ukraine to the detriment of the interests of France, and his posts on social networks are filled with criticism of Macron And Zelensky. Although almost half a million users have been subscribed to politics, his party has not achieved much success since the creation in 2017 - not a single representative has been sitting in either the national or in the European parliament.
Philippo's tweet quickly attracted the attention of the pro-Kremlin media and Telegram channels: ""Russian newspaper" Russia Today, "Constantinople","Russia now • News"(198,000 views),"Putin in Telegram"(183 000),"Rhymes and news"(107,000) and others. At the same time, many of these media omitted the fact that, according to the French politician, both presidents took part in the imitation of the conversation - the headlines only said about the staging from Zelensky.
March 21, the day after Twita Filippo, Telegram channels began to spread news about the refutation from the French Foreign Ministry. Most of these publications lack any links to the source of this information, but some attached a 32-second video to their posts, designed in the style of the BFMTV channel. The video begins with the titer: "The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs denies that Emmanuel Macron called Zelensky during a press conference." The following is a record of a call with subtitles in French, after which it again says that Macron did not call Zelensky at that moment, and the French Foreign Ministry does not know who Zelensky received a call and whether he was at all. The video of the branded BFMTV screensaver and the signature that the report was prepared by the journalist Adelaid Butrion.
“Verified” compared this video and records that BFMTV publishes on its social networks. The television channel really uses credits in blue-white colors and ends the video with a screensaver with the name of the reporter, but otherwise his content is designed differently. Mostly BFMTV Publishing Such videos are not in horizontal, but in a vertical format characteristic of Tiktok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. In addition, the TV channel always Indicates The primary source of the photo or video used in the plot, as well as the place where they were shot (this is not in the viral video). In addition, an error in the last name of the journalist was made: BFMTV really worked Adelaide Butyron (and not a Butitrion), and judging by her profile In LinkedIn, she was an interns from January to June 2024.
The video on which the proximal resources are based on is not on Official website or BFMTV verified pages in social networks (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X), and on this topic he released another video. There are no refutations or any other comments on the part of the France of France. In fact, the plot consists of the words of Zelensky translated into French, as well as the screensaver with the logo of the TV channel at the beginning and at the end of the video. On your Facebook page TV channel Laid A shorter video with the translated words of Zelensky, it completely coincides with an excerpt from a viral video. However, there is no initial screensaver with information about the refutation of the Foreign Ministry, nor portraits of Macron and the Foreign Minister of France, nor the final insert. Apparently, it was this short video, which, including in the Philippo tweet, became the basis for fake.
There are also no refutations on the official resources of the France of France, the existence of which is described in the video. Judging by the notes on the department’s website, the last Mention Ukraine was there on March 19, that is, shortly before the alleged call. In social networks The last time They wrote about Ukraine even earlier, March 13.
The posts about the alleged refutation from the French Foreign Ministry spread mainly in the proxors and Telegram channels. The first such publication appeared In the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel "Odessa Za Victory!" March 20 at 15:56 Moscow time. A fake BFMTV video was attached to this post, but later they began to talk about fake news without it. Then these statements spread and in the Russian -language segment X, several publications appeared And in English. "Odessa ZA Victory!" regularly gets The analysis of “verified” as a distributor or primary source of misinformation.
Thus, although it is impossible to independently confirm that Macron called Zelensky during his press briefing, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not definitely refute this information. Similar posts are based on a fake video, mimiking under the plot of a large French television channel.
Photo on the cover: x / @Zelenskyua
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