No, Zelenskyy Didn't Ask US to Send Its Children to Fight For Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was talking about a situation in which Ukraine loses the war and if Russia attacks NATO states.

Fact-Check: Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not asking children from United States to fight Ukraine-Russia war.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking the United States to send their 'sons and daughters' to 'fight for Ukraine' is going viral on social media.

The translation of Zelenskyy's remark can also be heard in the video, which is being shared on Twitter and had garnered more than seven million views at the time of writing this story.

An archive can be seen here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

Did Zelenskyy really say that?: This is a clipped video and is being shared with a misleading claim.

• The original video is from a press conference, held on 24 February 2023, where Zelenskyy spoke about a hypothetical situation about Ukraine losing against Russia.

• He says that if this happens, then Russia will attack Baltic and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states, and then US will have to send troops to the war.

How did we find out the truth?: We checked the recent speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that happened on 24 February 2023.

• Zelenskyy held a press conference on the day, which marked one year since Russia invaded Ukraine starting a war.

• We found a live stream from 24 February 2023 by DW News, a global news TV program broadcaster.

• At 1:33:40 timestamp, a journalist asks Zelesnkyy his message to those Americans who think that the US is giving unnecessary support to Ukraine in the war.

• To this question, Zelenskyy says that he is thankful for the support that Ukraine is receiving from the US but if they choose not to support, then the US might lose the leadership position that they enjoy in the world.

• He then says that if Ukraine loses against Russia then the latter will enter Baltic states and NATO member states. He adds, "then the US will have to send their sons and daughters, exactly the same way as we are sending our sons and daughters to war and they will have to fight because it's NATO that we're talking about and they will be dying. God forbid, because it's a horrible thing. I wish peace and Ukrainian support to the United States."

Conclusion: Clearly, Zelenskyy's speech was clipped to falsely claim that he is asking US to send its children to take part in the war against Russia.

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