Did France and Ukraine give Trump fake intel to leak to Putin?

For example, one X user, whose post had been viewed more than 8 million times at the time of publication, wrote (archived), "France and Ukraine fed Trump false intelligence to test whether he would leak it to Putin—and he did."

The rumor appeared to stem from a mistranslation of an interview on French news television.

According to information obtained by Le Monde, the campaign is believed to have originated from "Storm-1516," the nickname for a Russian propaganda group that has been highly active in France since 2025, seeking to discredit Ukraine among the French public through fake news sites. Nevertheless, this rumor went largely unnoticed. The reason: In January, France was preoccupied with multiple fabrications coming from Donald Trump.

France and Ukraine fed Trump false intelligence to test whether he would leak it to Putin—and he did.

For example, one X user, whose post had been viewed more than 8 million times at the time of publication, wrote (archived), "France and Ukraine fed Trump false intelligence to test whether he would leak it to Putin—and he did."

In brief: Kyiv has rejected claims by former French operative Vincent Crouzet, saying there is no evidence to support his suggestion that Ukraine fed fake intelligence to the US to test leaks to Moscow. by Leo Chiu, Kateryna Zakharchenko | Jan.

For example, one X user, whose post had been viewed more than 8 million times at the time of publication, wrote (archived), “France and Ukraine fed Trump false intelligence to test whether he would leak it to Putin—and he did.”

Available, sourced reporting permits ... to test leak behavior — there is, according to Kyiv, Snopes, and other fact‑checks, no public evidence showing such an operation took place [2] [3] [4] [5]....

Interesting how France and Ukraine allegedly fed Trump false intelligence to test whether he would leak it to Putin—and it was.