Photos and videos of Maksym Donets, head of the personal bodyguard team of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, taken during United States President Joe Biden's surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine on February 20, 2023, are being shared with the false claim that Zelensky's body double was accidentally revealed.
During Biden's visit, Donets was seen on the streets of Kyiv walking along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Soon footage of Donets behind Zelensky and Biden was shared by several handles claiming that the Ukrainian President's body double had been "accidentally revealed".
A body double is a term borrowed from the movies, where a person who closely resembles an actor is used as a stand-in for them in stunt or nude scenes. Online conspiracy theorists believe body doubles are employed to protect high profile targets.
Screenshots from the footage of the visit are being shared circling out a man standing behind Zelensky and Biden with the caption "Polish media accidently recorded #Zelensky's double when they covered #Biden's visit to #Kyiv #Awkward". This was tweeted by the Twitter handle @ArthurM40330824.
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The same set of photos is being widely shared on Twitter by several handles with the false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the man being claimed as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's "body double" accidentally outed is actually his well-known bodyguard Maksym Donets. Donets has been publicly photographed with Zelensky since his appointment as the head of the president’s personal bodyguard team in May 2019, which is long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Taking a hint from the replies to the viral tweets with the false claim pointing out that the man in the photo is his bodyguard, we then searched with the keyword "Maksym Donets" on Google and found several news websites which mentioned Zelensky's bodyguard growing popularity on social media since last year.
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Reuters had reported on May 31, 2019, that Zelensky had picked Donets as the head of the president’s personal bodyguard team and that he reportedly had ties with tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky.
Ilta-Sanomat, a prominent Finland tabloid in a November 2022 piece reported several instances Donets has been publicly photographed with Zelensky since his appointment as the head of the president's security service in 2019.
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The report had several publicly available photos of Donets spotted standing alongside Zelensky in his security detail since 2019.
April 2019
June 2020
September 2021
June 2022
This following photos above show that Donets has been in the public limelight ever since joining Zelensky's security detail and not a secret body double as being claimed on social media.