Skip to main content

Fact check: Photo edited to show Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy holding hands

Hannah Hudnall   | Paste BN

The claim: Image shows Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy holding hands

A Feb. 20 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walking side-by-side holding hands.

"TFW your sugar daddy keeps paying your bills so you have to hold his hand in public," reads the post's text.

The post garnered more than 11,000 likes in two days. Similar posts have been shared on Instagram and Twitter. 

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: Altered

The photo has been digitally edited. The original photo, captured by a New York Times photographer, doesn't show the two leaders holding hands.

Photo is edited to show two holding hands

On Feb. 20, Biden made a surprise trip to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.

The two were photographed walking together but were not seen holding hands.

The original photo was captured by New York Times photographer Daniel Berehulak and featured in a Feb. 20 article. Berehulak shared the photo and several similar ones of the two walking and talking on his Instagram.

Fact check: Screenshot of purported New York Post headline about immigration is satire

"The image being used on social media, portraying President Biden and President Zelenskyy holdings hands, is a digitally manipulated version of my original image," Berehulak told Paste BN in an email.

Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.

The claim has been debunked by AFP, Reuters, PolitiFact and Check Your Fact as well.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

Facebook Twitter Email