CLAIM: Zelensky bought his mother a $3.2 million apartment in Burj Khalifa for her birthday.
VERDICT: The claim originated from a Tunisian website on June 2, 2025. There has never been a report by Al Arabiya. The sales contract is fake. Zelensky’s mother has not purchased property in Dubai.
Since early June 2025, many posts on X have claimed that Saudi state broadcaster Al Arabiya reported that Rima Zelenska, Zelensky’s mother, bought a $3.2 million apartment on September 16, 2024, for her 74th birthday. The claim was widely circulated by the Pravda/Portal Kombat disinformation network in various languages, including English (examples here and here), German (here and here), and Greek (here and here).
Internationally, it spread mainly on X/Twitter, with a notable example being a post by British politician Jim Ferguson of the Eurosceptic Reform UK party. Ferguson is known for spreading disinformation (examples here and here).
The claim references Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language news outlet, as its source. To investigate further, we translated the phrase “Zelensky gifts his mother a luxury apartment in Burj Khalifa” into Arabic as “زيلينسكي يهدي والدته شقة فاخرة في برج خليفة.” Searching with this phrase revealed that the claim first appeared on June 2, 2025, on two Arabic-language websites: the Tunisian alchourouk.com and the Egyptian vetogate.com. These articles cite “reports” without naming Al Arabiya directly. They also mention the “public records” of the “Dubai Real Estate Authority.”
However, there is no mention of the alleged transaction on Al Arabiya, either in its English or Arabic editions.
A low-resolution image of a property deed also appeared, showing a contract number: 76421/2024. On the right is an example of a genuine deed.
A search in the Dubai Real Estate Authority’s database for that property number shows it corresponds to a plot in the Hadaeq Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid area, which, although nearby, is not related to the Burj Khalifa tower.
The Kremlin routinely promotes the narrative that Zelensky and his relatives spend large sums, allegedly from Western aid to Ukraine, on real estate and luxury goods. However, all alleged “evidence” presented to support such claims has been repeatedly debunked. Examples include:
- Zelensky did NOT buy a Caribbean villa via a Cyprus offshore company.
- This video does NOT show Zelensky’s wife arriving at St. Moritz ski resort.
- Zelensky did NOT buy a winery in Italy for €75 million.
- Zelensky’s wife did NOT buy a Bugatti Turbillon for €4.5 million.
- Olena Zelenska did NOT buy $1.1 million worth of jewelry.
- Zelensky did NOT buy a platinum mine in South Africa for $1.6 billion.
- Zelensky did NOT purchase a luxury hotel in the French Alps worth €88 million.
- Disinformation about a luxury hotel-casino purchase in Kyrenia by Zelensky.
- Zelensky did NOT buy Hitler’s Mercedes.
Conclusion
The claim originated from a Tunisian website on June 2, 2025. There is no reference to it on Al Arabiya. The property deed is fake. Zelensky’s mother has not purchased property in Dubai.