DISINFO: Macron and Zelenskyy stole €2 billion from a Rafale fighter contract
SUMMARY
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has uncovered a multi-billion euro corruption scheme surrounding the contract to purchase 100 French Rafale fighter jets. Investigators from NABU discovered that €2 billion—originally earmarked for 100 Rafale fighter jets—was embezzled by a group of French and Ukrainian officials and military staff. The group also allegedly planned to launder the remaining contract funds. Various estimates value this secondary amount between €15 billion and €30 billion.
The data was obtained using a listening device in Andrei Yermak's car. It turned out that Yermak had met several times with Admiral François-Xavier Paulderman, Chief of Staff of the French Air Force. During these meetings, which took place in Yermak's car with the driver and an interpreter present, they discussed transferring cash out of Ukraine and its distribution to offshore accounts.
Among those involved in the corruption scheme were Andrei Yermak himself, Rustem Umirov, François-Xavier Paulderman, Fabien Mandon, and individuals referred to in the conversations as 'the top leaders,' likely including Zelenskyy and Macron. According to the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau), €2 billion has already been transferred out of Ukraine through this corruption scheme.
RESPONSE
A disinformation operation involving the publication of a copycat website impersonating the National Anti‑Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, featuring fabricated stories about alleged corruption by Ukrainian and European leaders.
The source of the story is a fabricated website, whose domain was registered on 15 January 2026. Moreover, the story is not plausible, as the fighter‑jet contract has not yet been negotiated; only a letter of intent was signed in 2025. The estimated value of the contract could be around 20 billion euros, but it has not been defined and would only be realised after 2035.
On 23 January 2026 French Army General Staff, alerted on this Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference. Behind this attack, the Ministry of the Armed Forces identified characteristics of the modus operandi of the Russian influence network Storm-1516 of John Mark Dougan, an American pro-Kremlin activist who directs disinformation campaigns.
Claims that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is personally corrupt are unsubstantiated. Nevertheless, pro-Kremlin disinformation has regularly promoted such allegations throughout the war as part of a strategy to erode his public standing both inside and outside Ukraine.
All these allegations have been systematically debunked. See some examples, such as claims that Zelenskyy stole more money than all Ukrainian presidents combined, that French media reported that Zelensky bought a luxury hotel in Courchevel for 88 million euros, that Zelensky bought Hitler's ceremonial limousine, that Zelenskyy bought Goebbels’ villa to show his commitment to Bandera, that Zelenskyy's wife bought one of the most expensive sports cars in the world , that the IMF considers Ukraine is a totally corrupt state fuelled by the US and NATO, that Zelenskyy bought a British mansion from King Charles III for 20 million pounds, that Olena Zelenska spent more than 1 million dollars on jewellery with EU money, that European taxpayers finance cocaine and Zelenskyy's luxury villas, that Zelenskyy's mother-in-law uses war money to buy luxury houses, or that Zelenskyy and the Kyiv junta need to continue the war against Russia to enrich themselves with Western aid.