Fact check: 78 times Zelensky has expressed gratitude to the US

President Donald Trump claimed on social media on Sunday that “UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS” in relation to the war there.

Trump’s claim is not even close to accurate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed gratitude to the United States on dozens of occasions – 78 examples are listed below – since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country in early 2022. And Zelensky has repeatedly expressed gratitude to Trump personally since Trump was elected again last fall.

Zelensky has said it on social media, sometimes tagging Trump’s account. He has said it to Trump face-to-face. He has said it to Trump appointees and members of Congress. He has said it in Ukraine, in the US, and in other countries.

In fact, Zelensky said it last week.

“We are very grateful to President Trump, to the United States, to the entire American people,” Zelensky told Army Secretary Dan Driscoll last week in Kyiv, according to a summary of the meeting published by Zelensky’s office.

“I also extend my deep gratitude to the American companies, the Department of Energy, and President of the United States Donald Trump,” Zelensky said at a press conference last week in Greece, thanking Trump for his efforts to supply energy to Ukraine. He added, “We are grateful to the people of the United States and to the president once again.”

Less than three hours after Trump posted his false claim Sunday morning about Zelensky’s supposed failure to express gratitude, Zelensky posted on social media platform X: “Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that – starting with the Javelins – has been saving Ukrainian lives.”

But that wasn’t unusual. Zelensky has posted more than 40 expressions of gratitude to the US and its leaders on X alone.

“I am grateful to President Trump for strong cooperation with the United States,” Zelensky posted in September. “We are grateful to @POTUS for all efforts toward a just and lasting peace,” he posted in August. “I congratulated President Trump and the entire American people on the US Independence Day. We - in Ukraine - are grateful for all the support provided,” he posted on July 4. “I am grateful to President Trump,” he posted after speaking to Trump in May.

Trump’s false claim came after Zelensky pushed back against a 28-point Trump administration plan to end the war that includes many proposed concessions to Russia. And it echoed the contentious February meeting with Zelensky in which Trump told the Ukrainian president, “You gotta be more thankful.”

The day of that meeting, CNN published a list of examples of Zelensky thanking or otherwise expressing gratitude to the United States, its officials or its people for their wartime support. We’ve now updated the list with 44 additional examples, some from the subsequent months and some we’ve now found from previous moments of the war.

This list is not intended to be comprehensive. Notably, we did not review most of the remarks Zelensky has made in Ukrainian during the war, and we, of course, do not know what he said in most of his closed-door conversations. We’ve included a few instances in which Zelensky’s office published a report saying he had expressed gratitude to the US in a private meeting, since those reports themselves serve as public expressions of gratitude.

2022

January 21, 2022, on X: “Thank you @POTUS for the unprecedented (American) diplomatic and military assistance for (Ukraine).”

March 16, 2022, virtual address to US Congress: “Ladies and gentlemen, friends, Ukraine is grateful to the United States for its overwhelming support, for everything that your government and your people have done for us, for weapons and ammunition for training, for finances, for leadership in the free world, which helps us to pressure the aggressor economically. I’m grateful to President (Joe) Biden for his personal involvement, for his sincere commitment to the defense of Ukraine and democracy all over the world. I am grateful to you for the resolution which recognizes all those who commit crimes against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian people as war criminals.”

May 16, 2022, address to US college students: “And there are states that contribute as much as possible to protect freedom. To stop the aggression. To guarantee the force of international law. It is this role that the United States has chosen, and I am very grateful to your people, to your leaders for that choice.”

July 1, 2022, on X: “I