6 fact checks from the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting today.
6 fact checks from the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting
By — Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
By — Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact
By — Amy Sherman, PolitiFact
World Aug 18, 2025 7:10 PM EDT
This article originally appeared on Politifact.
In a more cordial affair than their last Oval Office meeting, President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat down Aug. 18 at the White House to discuss how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The talks, which included a second meeting with seven European and NATO leaders, took place three days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. Since meeting with Putin, Trump has talked about reaching a peace deal saying he no longer thinks Ukraine "needs a ceasefire" and noting that there needs to be concessions on both sides.
Here are the meeting's top lines, fact-checked.
Mail-in ballots are fraud?
For a meeting about a war in Ukraine, mail-in ballots in the U.S. got a surprising spotlight.
Following a social media post earlier in the day in which Trump called for getting rid of mail-in voting — a voting practice he had embraced — Trump called mail-in ballots "corrupt" and "a fraud" and promised to end mail-in voting.
Trump has spread falsehoods about voting by mail for the last decade. Mail-in voting provides more opportunity for fraud than in-person voting, but it's still rare, and election officials have safeguards in place. Around 94% of registered voters live in states that have some version of ballot tracking, reducing the probability of fraud.
Did Trump end six wars?
Trump lauded his efforts to end world conflicts, repeating that he has "ended six wars" since taking office. But this Mostly False talking point needs context.
Trump had a hand in deals that have recently eased conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand; Israel and Iran; and India and Pakistan, although some of those countries' leaders dispute his role. The U.S. was also involved in a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that experts said is significant but remains shaky. In other conflicts, there is little evidence of war brewing or solutions on the table. On Aug. 8, after our fact-check's publication, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan joined Trump in the White House to sign a joint peace declaration after nearly 40 years of conflict.
"One" war left?
As Trump spoke about how difficult it's been to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said that, "with all of the wars that I got involved in, we only have this one left."
But his comment notably ignores Israel's nearly two-year war with Hamas in Gaza that started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed around 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage. Since then, the war has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, including about 18,000 children and minors, according to Gazan health statistics. (Gaza's numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.) Hunger has surged in Gaza as the enclave has been largely cut off from aid.
Trump's remark also comes a day after hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest the war. The demonstrators called for the release of the remaining hostages amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu's plan to launch a ground invasion into Gaza City. Trump weighed in on Truth Social, saying that "we will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!"
$350 billion for Ukraine doesn't add up.
Trump said he thought the U.S. had given Ukraine "over $300 (billion)" or "$350 billion worth of equipment and money." This is misleading.
U.S. appropriations for Ukraine total about $184.8 billion, as of March 2025. A White House spokesperson told PolitiFact that Trump's figure included direct funding to Ukraine and indirect economic costs, such as war-related inflation, rising fertilizer costs and lost trade because of sanctions on Russia.
Trump's district dining anecdote.
In a pivot to Washington, D.C., crime, Trump said the district went from "the most unsafe place anywhere" to a place where people are going out to dinner again. He credited this to his Aug. 11 federal takeover of the district's police, saying he's made the area safer in a matter of days.
This is misleading. The district experienced a sharp rise in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, but crime rates have continued to decline since. When it comes to dining out, reservation data for the district's restaurants shows a decline in diners since Trump summoned the National Guard and took over the police force.
Trump's election "joke."
After a reporter asked if Zelenskyy was open to holding an election — something Trump had criticized him for not doing — he said he would be open to it once the war is over.
Zelenskyy would have been up for reelection in 2024, but Ukrainian law prohibits elections under martial law, which Ukraine imposed after Russia's invasion.
Trump jumped in: "So you say during the war, you can't have elections. So let me just say three and a half years from now. So you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections?"
Zelenskyy laughed.
There is no precedent for postponing or canceling a U.S. presidential election; they were even held during the Civil War. "The date is set by Congress and elections are administered by the states," Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Center, previously told PolitiFact. "The president has no role in setting Election Day or moving it."
By — Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
By — Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact
By — Amy Sherman, PolitiFact
World Aug 18, 2025 7:10 PM EDT
This article originally appeared on Politifact.
In a more cordial affair than their last Oval Office meeting, President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat down Aug. 18 at the White House to discuss how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The talks, which included a second meeting with seven European and NATO leaders, took place three days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. Since meeting with Putin, Trump has talked about reaching a peace deal saying he no longer thinks Ukraine "needs a ceasefire" and noting that there needs to be concessions on both sides.
Here are the meeting's top lines, fact-checked.
Mail-in ballots are fraud?
For a meeting about a war in Ukraine, mail-in ballots in the U.S. got a surprising spotlight.
Following a social media post earlier in the day in which Trump called for getting rid of mail-in voting — a voting practice he had embraced — Trump called mail-in ballots "corrupt" and "a fraud" and promised to end mail-in voting.
Trump has spread falsehoods about voting by mail for the last decade. Mail-in voting provides more opportunity for fraud than in-person voting, but it's still rare, and election officials have safeguards in place. Around 94% of registered voters live in states that have some version of ballot tracking, reducing the probability of fraud.
Did Trump end six wars?
Trump lauded his efforts to end world conflicts, repeating that he has "ended six wars" since taking office. But this Mostly False talking point needs context.
Trump had a hand in deals that have recently eased conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand; Israel and Iran; and India and Pakistan, although some of those countries' leaders dispute his role. The U.S. was also involved in a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that experts said is significant but remains shaky. In other conflicts, there is little evidence of war brewing or solutions on the table. On Aug. 8, after our fact-check's publication, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan joined Trump in the White House to sign a joint peace declaration after nearly 40 years of conflict.
"One" war left?
As Trump spoke about how difficult it's been to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said that, "with all of the wars that I got involved in, we only have this one left."
But his comment notably ignores Israel's nearly two-year war with Hamas in Gaza that started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed around 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage. Since then, the war has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, including about 18,000 children and minors, according to Gazan health statistics. (Gaza's numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.) Hunger has surged in Gaza as the enclave has been largely cut off from aid.
Trump's remark also comes a day after hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest the war. The demonstrators called for the release of the remaining hostages amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu's plan to launch a ground invasion into Gaza City. Trump weighed in on Truth Social, saying that "we will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!"
$350 billion for Ukraine doesn't add up.
Trump said he thought the U.S. had given Ukraine "over $300 (billion)" or "$350 billion worth of equipment and money." This is misleading.
U.S. appropriations for Ukraine total about $184.8 billion, as of March 2025. A White House spokesperson told PolitiFact that Trump's figure included direct funding to Ukraine and indirect economic costs, such as war-related inflation, rising fertilizer costs and lost trade because of sanctions on Russia.
Trump's district dining anecdote.
In a pivot to Washington, D.C., crime, Trump said the district went from "the most unsafe place anywhere" to a place where people are going out to dinner again. He credited this to his Aug. 11 federal takeover of the district's police, saying he's made the area safer in a matter of days.
This is misleading. The district experienced a sharp rise in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, but crime rates have continued to decline since. When it comes to dining out, reservation data for the district's restaurants shows a decline in diners since Trump summoned the National Guard and took over the police force.
Trump's election "joke."
After a reporter asked if Zelenskyy was open to holding an election — something Trump had criticized him for not doing — he said he would be open to it once the war is over.
Zelenskyy would have been up for reelection in 2024, but Ukrainian law prohibits elections under martial law, which Ukraine imposed after Russia's invasion.
Trump jumped in: "So you say during the war, you can't have elections. So let me just say three and a half years from now. So you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections?"
Zelenskyy laughed.
There is no precedent for postponing or canceling a U.S. presidential election; they were even held during the Civil War. "The date is set by Congress and elections are administered by the states," Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Center, previously told PolitiFact. "The president has no role in setting Election Day or moving it."
