Russian propaganda media are spreading false claims that Ukraine allegedly plans to sell Western weapons received from its partners in Europe. In reality, this is not about selling arms supplied by allies, but about launching a program of controlled exports of Ukrainian-made weapons. The funds generated from these exports will be directed toward developing the defense industry and producing scarce drones.

The spread of this disinformation was flagged by StopFake fact-checkers. Propagandists claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had allegedly “opened a commission shop for stolen weapons” and was planning to sell in Europe arms that Ukraine had previously received from Western partners as military aid. The publications alleged that British-made naval drones and artillery systems assembled from European and Soviet components were supposedly being offered for sale.

These claims have nothing to do with reality. What is actually being discussed is the resumption of controlled exports of Ukrainian weapons – that is, arms produced by Ukraine’s own defense industry enterprises. This initiative does not involve Western weapons supplied by allies as military assistance. After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine completely halted arms exports, but in 2025, as domestic production increased and surpluses emerged, a decision was made to partially resume exports under state control.

In late September 2025, Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine was preparing to begin controlled arms exports even before the end of martial law. The president emphasized that only those types of weapons for which the Ukrainian army has sufficient supplies would be exported. The proceeds would be used to expand the production of drones and other critically needed equipment. On October 28, 2025, Zelensky instructed Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to launch the program as early as November. He also tasked the government with ensuring that by the end of the year at least half of the weapons in Ukraine’s defense system would be domestically produced.

Ukraine plans to open representative offices in Berlin and Copenhagen to strengthen industrial cooperation with partners. This is about expanding international production cooperation, not about “trading Western weapons”, as Russian propaganda attempts to portray it. Ukrainian media have previously reported that the initiative to resume exports is supported by private defense companies that have excess production capacity.

A photo allegedly showing a veteran of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, known as “Uncle Tolya”, is being circulated on social media. According to the post’s authors, he was supposedly remobilized after 35 years of service, despite his advanced age and having three children. The post claims that the veteran had repeatedly asked his fellow servicemen to get him a captured Russian T-72 tank, but instead an aerial reconnaissance unit allegedly gave him two new British tank crew suits. This fake was debunked by VoxCheck.

In reality, the story is a photo fake. The authors edited the original post, changing both the text and the publication date. The man in the photo is named Anatolii Bezbah, and he voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine back in 2014.

As fact-checkers found, the screenshot shows that the alleged author of the post was Ukrainian serviceman and photographer Mykyta Zavilinskyi. His Facebook page does indeed contain a photo of “Uncle Tolya”, but it was originally published on November 1, 2014. On November 1, 2025, Zavilinskyi merely reposted it as a memory of the first combat missions. The original post stated that the 61-year-old Uncle Tolya had voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and commanded a T-64 tank.

According to Zavilinskyi, the veteran really did joke that he wanted a captured Russian tank. In his post, he quoted Uncle Tolya as saying: “You find it with your little helicopter, then we suddenly attack the checkpoint, they just need to be pinned to the ground with fire for two minutes, I’ll jump in and off we go!” Thus, this episode was described as a joke rather than a real combat plan. At the same time, the fact that soldiers from an aerial reconnaissance unit gave him two British tank crew suits is true.

The story of Anatolii Bezbah – known as Uncle Tolya – has been covered repeatedly by Ukrainian media. He was a native of Crimea who, after the sham referendum in 2014, moved to territory controlled by Ukraine and decided to join the Armed Forces. “I have grandchildren, and I want them to live freely, without knowing or seeing this war,” the tanker explained at the time. After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, no information about Anatolii Bezbah’s further fate could be found – the last mentions of him date back to 2017.

In 2013, a quote allegedly said by Donald Trump spread on social media: “A government shutdown is the result of a lack of presidential leadership. Problems start at the top, and they have to be solved at the top. A shutdown means the president is weak”. This statement regained popularity during the U.S. government shutdown in 2025, when internet users recalled that Trump – who was president at the time – had supposedly said this himself. However, this claim is not entirely accurate. Snopes reported on this.

As fact-checkers found, only the second part of the quote – “Problems start at the top, and they have to be solved at the top” – genuinely belongs to Trump. He said it during an appearance on the TV program Fox & Friends on September 30, 2013, when Barack Obama was president and the country was preparing for a possible government shutdown. At the time, Trump argued that it was the president’s responsibility to overcome political crises and demonstrate leadership. The rest of the phrases circulating on social media were never spoken by him, although their general meaning aligns with his position during that period.

Snopes analyzed archives from Bing, Google, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo, as well as posts on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Threads, but found no evidence that Trump ever literally said phrases about a “weak president” or a “lack of leadership”. The earliest appearances of these words date back only to 2018, during another government shutdown that occurred while Trump himself was president. This suggests that the quote was assembled from his real statements and later spread as a generalized version of his views.

Fact-checkers also note that back in 2011, during an appearance on the Today show, Trump said that in the event of a shutdown, “the blame falls on the president, because he is the one who has to bring everyone together and pass a budget”. In his Twitter posts from the same period, he repeatedly criticized Barack Obama, calling him “weak” and holding him responsible for political conflicts in Washington.