+1 vote
in General Factchecking by Master (5.4k points)
Seymour Hersh is making these claims but it sounds a little convoluted…

3 Answers

+3 votes
by Journeyman (2.7k points)
selected by
 
Best answer

You're right on a few fronts. Seymour Hersch--who is a respected, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist--has made these claims but has been extremely vague about where he is actually getting all of his information from. 

That Daily Sun article you linked basically copies verbatim what Hersch posted on his blog site on Wednesday, April 14: that Ukraine President Volodimir Zelensky and many of his top generals have been misappropriating funds in excess of $400 million that were specifically earmarked for fuel purchases. Their major fault in embezzling these funds, as claimed by Hersch, has been that the diesel they've bought have come from Russian suppliers--essentially buying fuel from the enemy they're already fighting.

To back up his claims, Hersch references multiple times a "knowledgeable American intelligence official and "one estimate from analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency." You'd be right to call these sources extremely vague. Additionally, Hersch claims that the US confronted Zelensky in January about him "taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals" and accusing him of corruption at the expense of the American taxpayer.

We can't really be sure if what Hersch is claiming is true. We are given very little and very vague information, yet Hersch's reputation precedes him; he is a seasoned journalist familiar with the verification process. As we've seen with the recently leaked Pentagon documents, much of American intelligence surrounding the Ukrainian war is top secret, so I wouldn't count on either the American or Ukrainian governments commenting on this potential fracture in their relationship any time soon, especially that both have worked hard to portray themselves as a single united front against Russia.

No available information
by Master (5.4k points)
Great answer, thanks.
+2 votes
by Apprentice (1.0k points)
Actually, there's a lot of evidence nowadays that Ukraine has been under lots of corruption since the creation of the country. A lot of articles have shown that Ukraine's government has been tackling the corruption problem. As the problem you just mentioned is actually pretty recent there's no telling whether or not these facts are true. But the details are explained in the first link and the other 2 links are information about the types of corruption in the country. As we have no concrete evidence yet it's safe to assume that this fact is not true or false yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgT0_Wv6N8o&ab_channel=Firstpost

https://time.com/6249941/ukraine-corruption-resignation-zelensky-russia/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/zelensky-ukraine-president-corruption-allegations-a874bff0
No available information
by Master (5.4k points)
Thanks much, good sources.
+2 votes
by Apprentice (1.8k points)

There were no verified reports or public statements from the CIA or other reliable sources regarding the Ukrainian president or his entourage embezzling American funds earmarked for diesel fuel payments. There are many stories about this claim, but all of them cite Seymour Hersch's original claim. This could be based on misinformation, rumors, or propaganda, or be true.

Without more recent and credible information to verify this claim, I would classify it as "Not enough information."

Community Rules


Be respectful.

There is bound to be disagreement on a site about misinformation. Assume best intentions on everyone's part.

If you are new to factchecking, take some time to learn about it. "How to Factcheck" has some resources for getting started. Even if you disagree with these materials, they'll help you understand the language of this community better.

News Detective is for uncovering misinformation and rumors. This is not a general interest question-answer site for things someone could Google.

Posting

The title is the "main claim" that you're trying to factcheck.

Example:
Factcheck This: Birds don't exist

If possible, LINK TO to the place you saw the claim.

Answering

LINK TO YOUR EVIDENCE or otherwise explain the source ("I called this person, I found it in this book, etc.")

But don't just drop a link. Give an explanation, copy and paste the relevant information, etc.

News Detective is not responsible for anything anyone posts on the platform.
...