Kremlin Telegram channels and social media accounts are actively spreading fake information claiming that U.S. President Donald Trump called Ukraine a “destitute country” and expressed regret over the aid provided to it. As “proof”, they cite an edited video of Trump in which his words are allegedly translated into Russian.

Analysts from the StopFake project drew attention to this manipulation.

In the fake translation, Trump is allegedly quoted as saying: “It would have been a much more correct position not to give billions of dollars to this destitute country. Look at what will happen now… This is my own analysis, and you, like me, will be able to see it very soon. Ukraine will lose this war, Putin will gain enormous influence over Europe and other processes in the world. From the very beginning, we supported the wrong side, the wrong position. We are now on the same side as those who lost”.

This content is being actively circulated on Instagram and Telegram.

In reality, the video published by propagandists is a clip from Trump’s meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House on September 3, 2025, during which the U.S. leader spoke with the press. In the fake video, only the beginning of Trump’s sentence can be heard: “We are in a much better position”. After that, the recording cuts off and a fabricated Russian “translation” begins. Fact-checkers from StopFake analyzed the full Associated Press broadcast and found that Trump’s original words were completely different.

In fact, Trump was answering journalists’ questions about imposing tariffs on imports from various countries and the consideration of this issue by the U.S. Supreme Court. His actual words were: “We are in a much better position. Trillions of dollars are coming into our country. If there were no tariffs, we would be a very poor country, and everyone else in the world – both friends and enemies – would be taking advantage of us. We’re not going to let that happen. And we have a very, very serious case in the Supreme Court”.

There were no mentions of Ukraine or any criticism of aid to it either in this segment or in other parts of the meeting with Nawrocki or the press conference. The Russian propaganda machine simply invented these words to discredit Ukraine and undermine trust in international support. Notably, the same fake video was actively circulating in the Georgian segment of Facebook, as noted by fact-checkers from Myth Detector.

Fakes claiming that Trump (as a key political figure in the United States) supposedly regrets the “billions of dollars” given to a “destitute” Ukraine are aimed at persuading American audiences – particularly conservatives and Trump supporters – that such assistance is pointless or harmful. This is part of a broader Kremlin campaign that intensified after Trump’s victory in 2024, seeking to cut Ukraine off from weapons and funding and thereby facilitate Russian advances. Russian disinformation is designed to erode support for Ukraine following Trump’s return to the White House, using fake videos and narratives about corruption or “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine.