The International Visegrad Fund said in a statement today that it had no record of any donation from the actor, Leonardo DiCaprio.
“We are not aware, neither do we have any information about Leonardo DiCaprio donating USD 10 million/£7.6 million to Ukraine. International Visegrad Fund has not announced this information,” Lucia Becová, a spokesperson for the organization, told Insider.
A source close to DiCaprio told Insider the actor made several donations to humanitarian organizations linked to Ukraine, including donations to CARE, the IRC, UNHCR, and Save the Children.
But the $10 million figure is not accurate, the source said.
Among the big news outlets that reported the donation before it was shared with thousands of media outlets and bloggers were Polish News, The Independent, according to the Insider
The fake news even claimed that the actor`s family lived in Ukraine. The source close to the actor said DiCaprio “had no familial ties to Ukraine.”
On its official Facebook page, a post from the organization on Tuesday appeared to refute the claim.
“Nowadays, fake news are present in any form and shape,” the post said. “For example, some media outlets informed today that the International Visegrad Fund announced a USD 10 million donation from a famous American actor to help Ukraine. Please, be aware of your sources, follow credible journalists and media, and do not spread fake news.”
The other big fake news was the clam that Russia deadly bomb attack destroyed maternity hospital in Ukraine.
Russia has denied attacking a Ukrainian maternity hospital, even though Ukrainian authorities said three people, including a child, died when the children’s and maternity hospital in the southern city of Mariupol was bombed on Wednesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said the target on the hospital was the “ultimate proof that what is happening is the genocide of Ukrainians”.
But, according to latest reports, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, claimed the building was no longer a maternity hospital and had been taken over by Ukrainian troops.
“That’s how fake news is born,” he tweeted.
