Anonymous telegram channels are spreading information that Volodymyr Zelenskyi, through proxies, bought two yachts - “Lucky Me” and “My Legacy” - for $75 million. In support of such theses, the authors add photographs of the “bought” yachts and relevant “documents” that supposedly evidence of a purchase. And they link to the English-language media The Islander. It's a lie.

The VoxCheck analysts took on this case and found out that, first of all, the companies that own the yachts confirmed that no one bought them from them and they are still up for sale. Accordingly, the “documents” are fake and in no way claim to be authentic. In November 2023, The Islander media actually published an investigative material in which the authors establish the involvement of the Ukrainian president in the purchase of ships. However, the founders of this media are henchmen of the Kremlin. For example, the About Us section states that The Islander was co-created by Jerry Nolan and Chey Bowes. The latter works as a correspondent for the Russian propaganda television and radio company Russia Today.

Also, information about the purchase, in a traditional way for Russian propaganda, was published on an inactive YouTube channel, where the author allegedly talks about yachts that were bought by persons associated with Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The author of the video calls himself Shahzade Nasir. But open sources also do not contain any other materials from the author of the “investigation”, Shahzad Nasir. The search engine returns only the mentioned YouTube channel. It is unlikely that this is a real name.

The so-called investigations into the property of Ukrainian officials are turning into a systematic campaign to discredit them. Thus, propagandists or proxies of Moscow seek to portray Ukraine as a cradle of corruption schemes - which in the future could harm Ukraine’s European integration path. After all, the fight against corruption and its reduction is one of the main tasks of the state in order to become part of the European Union.

Here are other cases related to the “taking” of real estate with “stolen funds”: how Zelenskyi allegedly bought the villa of Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels for 8 million euros; or how propagandists lied that Zelenskyi’s mother-in-law purchased a villa on the coast of Egypt using Western humanitarian aid to Ukraine.