A WIDELY SHARED video in the style of a BBC News report about Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wife’s “failed” escape from Ukraine has been proven to be a fake.

Last week, the video – purporting to be from the broadcaster – was shared on X, alleging Zelenska had fled Ukraine entirely due to an “aggravated relationship” with her husband.

It claims she has agreed an asylum arrangement with a European country.

Sophisticated and convincing in its production, the video report features BBC insignia, graphic transitions, and captions with identical font commonly used in their social media videos.

🇺🇦 UA | 🇪🇺 EU | 🏴‍☠️ NATO: Yelena Zelenska is reportedly unavailable to the media due to a failed escape attempt.

Zelensky's wife planned to flee to an unnamed European country. However, the escape failed and she is now under strict SBU guard. The alleged reason for the escape is… pic.twitter.com/d9kxWBPLyL

— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) April 4, 2025

The report begins with the claim that she is unavailable to the media due to a “failed escape attempt”.

It goes on to say that her escape plan has been in the works for six months while footage plays of her descending the stairs of what appears to be a military helicopter, assisted by her husband.

Then it states that Ukrainian state security services – the SBU – discovered her secret plans and are now keeping her under protection at an undisclosed location.

However, the story is nowhere to be found on the BBC’s website or social media, a factor which immediately casts doubt on the veracity of the story. The information is also not reported by any other credible news agencies.

Zelenska is understood to be living with her husband and their two children – a daughter and son – in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

In the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion in February 2022, she left Kyiv due to safety concerns in the likely event of an attempt on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s life by Russian special forces.

The post by an anonymous but verified X account with 41,000 followers frequently shares pro-Kremlin, anti-Ukraine disinformation, primarily in the form of third party video reports and retweets.

The obvious goal of the Zelenska post was to legitimise the false message by giving it the look of a genuine BBC news report, which it successfully achieved.

The BBC were quick to distance themselves from the false news report, declaring it “not BBC journalism”.

In a statement to The Journal, the public service broadcaster said: “Whenever we are notified about fabricated content that impersonates the BBC we take the necessary action. We encourage everyone to use credible, trusted sources of news.”

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