On Feb. 29, 2024, the X (formerly Twitter) account @Zagonel85 uploaded a screenshot purportedly showing a legitimate tweet by the verified Defense of Ukraine (DoU) X account calling then-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "naked clown."
The alleged DoU tweet – which was said to have been posted on Dec. 22, 2018, prior to the now-president's April 2019 election victory – read:
This naked clown called Volodymyr Zelenskyy is dreaming of becoming the president of Ukraine. If this American stooge, who knows nothing about foreign and defence policy, succeeds in his plan, he will destroy our nation with the help of NATO. Don't vote for this piece of s***.
The @Zagonel85 tweet (archived here) added: "Remember when all Ukrainians openly acknowledged Zelensky was a tool?"
Similar claims were seen elsewhere on X and multiple versions were seen on Facebook.
But we found no evidence of the alleged DoU tweet ever existing, hence our "Unfounded" rating.
An advanced search on X showed no tweet existing on the DoU's account. Likewise, results using an advanced search engine tool mostly produced fact checks debunking the claim.
Similarly, English-language and Ukrainian-language searches of news reports, which would have likely been written if Ukraine's defense ministry called a prospective leader a "naked clown," produced no results.
Archived versions of the DoU's X account also revealed no evidence of the tweet existing. If it did, readers would have likely archived the tweet on the day it posted.
Snopes also noticed the photo used in the purported tweet is incorrectly formatted due to the top corners being squared off instead of rounded off. Images on X are always rounded off when not enlarged, as is the case in the alleged tweet.