Fact Check: Did Trump accuse Ukraine of interfering with the upcoming midterm elections?
WASHINGTON, DC: As the midterm elections are less than a month away, a rumor began circulating on social media platforms claiming that President Donald Trump had accused Ukraine of interfering with the upcoming elections. The claim appeared amid the diesel deal between the United States and Russia, sparking speculation and prompting a fact check.
Claim: Donald Trump accused Ukraine of interfering with midterms
According to the viral claim, Trump has accused the Ukrainian Government of meddling in the next month's midterm elections.
It appeared in the form of an article in which Trump accused Ukraine of election interference by bombing bot farms in Russia earlier this week, leading to a sharp decrease in social media activity worldwide.
"They are gonna pay," Trump allegedly said, speaking to the press aboard Air Force One.
"They've gone too far this time. We are very unhappy with them, and unfortunately, there's gonna have to be consequences. They are trying to alter the outcome of the midterms; we can't have that. It's very bad."
The article further states that Meta reported an inexplicable 80pc decline in interactions after a Ukrainian missile burst through the roof of a Yandex data centre southwest of Moscow.
Fact Check: The claim originated as satire
The claim, however, is false, as there are no records of Trump accusing Ukraine of interfering with the upcoming election, which the Republicans are projected to lose.
There are no recent announcements, official statements, press conferences, or social media posts from the president in which he slammed Ukraine.
If Trump had really made such an accusation, it would not go unreported by prominent news media outlets.
Moreover, the article was posted by The Betoota Advocate, which is an Australian satirical news website that publishes humor and fictional news stories to poke fun at politics and society.
Donald Trump calls for Volodymyr Zelenskyy's replacement
The claim surfaced amid the tensions surrounding the US-Russia diesel deal and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's criticism of the agreement, following which Trump called for Zelenskyy's replacement, arguing that the Ukrainian leader had failed to reach a deal to end the war.
“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does,” Trump said.
“Zelenskyy could have settled this war many times, many, many times, and he chooses not to. Very difficult. It’s a war that should have never been started. If I were present, if the election weren’t rigged, I would have been president and that war would have never started,” Trump said.
