CNN’s Daniel Dale Obliterates Trump’s False Zelensky Claim With 78 Examples That Say Otherwise

AP Photo/Ben Curtis

CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale dismantled a recent claim by President Donald Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had not shown any gratitude to the United States, listing a whopping 78 counterexamples.

As contentious discussions over possible peace talks to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue, Trump lashed out in all caps at Zelensky in a Truth Social post Sunday, writing that “UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS.”

Zelensky responded in a video post a few hours later, saying that he was “grateful to each and every person” who was helping Ukraine.

“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,” he added.

Dale, CNN’s resident fact-checker, included that video as the final example among a total of 78 he collected in a column that laid out how Trump’s claim was “not even close to accurate.”

Zelensky “has expressed gratitude to the United States on dozens of occasions” since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, wrote Dale, and “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,” Dale continued. “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,” Dale noted, referencing the notes from a meeting Zelensky had with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll in Kyiv in which the Ukrainian president said, “We are very grateful to President Trump, to the United States, to the entire American people.”

Of his list of 78 examples, Dale wrote that it was “not intended to be comprehensive,” and skipped over reviewing most of the remarks Zelensky has made in Ukrainian and omitted what was said in closed-door meetings, indicating the true number of times Zelensky personally has expressed his gratitude is higher, not to mention the expressions of thanks by other senior Ukrainian government officials that Dale did not tally.

Read the full list here.