In March 2025, a video was widely circulated in which the President of Ukraine received a call from the President of France while talking to reporters. However, according to some Russian media and Telegram channels, the French authorities deny that such a call took place. We have verified the accuracy of these reports.
On March 19, during an online briefing with journalists, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky received a call he said came from French President Emmanuel Macron. Zelensky apologized to his colleague, explaining that he was talking to representatives of the media, and promised to call back in 15-20 minutes. After the call ended, he told reporters that he communicates with Macron almost daily and emphasized that Ukraine and France have very close relations.
On March 21, reports began to appear that the French Foreign Ministry allegedly said: Macron did not interrupt the press conference of the President of Ukraine with his call. In most cases, the news is given without any reference at all; some indicate the French television channel BFMTV as the source.
Similar publications appeared in Telegram channels “Open Ukraine| Open Ukraine"(417,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Ne.Sugar"(266,000), "Evil proof"(255,000), "Observer"(209,000), "Uncle Slava"(195,000), "Typical Odessa"(139,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(120,000), "Falcon"(113,000), etc., as well as in publications EADaily, "Military Review" And "Komsomolskaya Pravda Moldova"
Zelensky and Macron regularly meet and hold telephone conversations. In March alone, as follows from the statements of the press services of the two presidents, they called each other at least twice (14 And 17 Martha), two times met in person and also crossed paths at international events. Such active communication is explained, among other things, by the efforts of the French leader to support Kyiv against the backdrop of Russian-American and Ukrainian-American negotiations on a possible ceasefire.
Moreover, in 2022 the President of Ukraine told journalists that he agreed with several foreign colleagues, including Macron, on informal methods of communication to resolve operational issues. Zelensky called this practice, which does not include the publication of press releases about the negotiations, iPhone diplomacy. It was the Ukrainian president’s smartphone that received the call during a Zoom briefing with journalists on the night of March 20. Relevant fragment of the press conference published "RBC - Ukraine".
Soon this video went viral Ukrainian, French And Russian Media. The latter often expressed doubt that it was Macron who called Zelensky. Although the President of Ukraine called his interlocutor Emmanuel, and then separately clarified for journalists that the President of France called, the caller’s answers cannot be heard, and his name is not visible on the phone screen. Some resources as arguments indicated to the fact that Macron simply cannot have Zelensky’s personal phone number, others directly accused Ukrainian leader in the production. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev named the situation is a circus.
Publications with doubts about the veracity of the call began to appear especially actively after post French politician Florian Philippot. On the morning of March 20, he posted a video from Zelensky’s press conference on social network X and wrote that the presidents staged a telephone conversation “to show how friendly they are.” According to Filippo, this imitation was needed against the backdrop of Zelensky’s upcoming trip to Paris, where Macron was supposed to announce a new aid package for Kyiv (apparently, negotiations were meant March 26 and 27). The politician did not provide any evidence for his words.
Filippo is the leader of the French right-wing party "Patriots", previously he occupied post of deputy chairman of the far-right National Front party (now National Rally) and was a close associate of Marine Le Pen, the main rivals Macron in the last two presidential elections in France. "Patriots", in particular, promote the idea of the country leaving the EU and NATO. Filippo repeatedly accused Macron in 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 subscribe to the politician on X, his party has not achieved much success since its creation in 2017 - not a single representative sits in either the national or the European Parliament.
Filippo's tweet quickly attracted the attention of pro-Kremlin media and Telegram channels: “Russian newspaper", Russia Today, "Constantinople", "Russia now • News"(198,000 views), "Putin on Telegram"(183,000), "Rhymes and news"(107,000), etc. 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 talk about the staging on the part of Zelensky.
On March 21, the day after Filippo's tweet, Telegram channels began spreading news of a denial from the French Foreign Ministry. Most of these publications do not contain any links to the source of this information, but some attached a 32-second video designed in the style of the BFMTV channel to their posts. The video begins with the caption: “The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs denies that Emmanuel Macron called Zelensky during the press conference.” Next, a recording of the call is shown with subtitles in French, after which it is again said that Macron did not call Zelensky at that moment, and the French Foreign Ministry does not know from whom Zelensky received the call or whether there was one at all. The video ends with a BFMTV logo and a caption that the report was prepared by journalist Adelaide Boutrion.
“Verified” compared this video and the recordings that BFMTV publishes on its social networks. The network does use blue-and-white captions and ends the video with a title card with the reporter's name, but the rest of its content is formatted differently. Mainly BFMTV publishes Such videos are not in horizontal, but in vertical format, typical of TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. In addition, the TV channel is always indicates the original source of the photo or video used in the story, as well as the location where it was filmed (this is not the case in a viral video). In addition, there was a mistake in the journalist’s last name: BFMTV actually worked Adelaide Butiron (not Butrion), and, judging by her profile at LinkedIn, she was an intern from January to June 2024.
The video on which pro-Kremlin resources rely is not available on official website or verified BFMTV pages on social networks (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X), and on this topic he released another video. There are no denials or any other comments from the French Foreign Ministry. In fact, the plot consists of Zelensky’s words translated into French, as well as screensavers with the channel’s logo at the beginning and end of the video. On its Facebook page, the TV channel posted a shorter video with translated words from Zelensky, it completely coincides with an excerpt from the viral video. However, there is neither an initial splash page with information about the Foreign Ministry’s denial, nor portraits of Macron and the French Foreign Minister, nor a final insert. Apparently, it was this short video, also used in Filippo’s tweet, that became the basis for the fake.
There are also no refutations on the official resources of the French Foreign Ministry, the existence of which is described in the video. Judging by the records on the department's website, the latter mention Ukraine was there on March 19, that is, shortly before the expected call. On social networks for the last time they wrote about Ukraine even earlier, on March 13.
Posts about the alleged denial by the French Foreign Ministry spread mainly in pro-Kremlin media and Telegram channels. First publication of this kind appeared in the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel “Odessa for victory!” March 20 at 15:56 Moscow time. A fake BFMTV video was attached to this post, but later the fake news began to be reported without it. Then these statements spread and in the Russian-language segment X, several publications appeared and in English. “Odessa for victory!” regularly hits into analysis “Verified” as a distributor or primary source of misinformation.
So, while it is impossible to independently confirm that Macron called Zelensky during his press briefing, the French Foreign Ministry did not exactly deny this information. Such posts are based on a fake video that mimics the story of a major French TV channel.
Cover photo: X/@ZelenskyyUa
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