Edited photo of pro-Kremlin Ukrainian leader’s arrest shared as Venezuela President Maduro’s capture
After the U.S. announced that it captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a photo quickly went viral on social media, claiming that the image shows Maduro after his arrest. But fact-check shows the photo is edited, and the circulated image is of Viktor Medvedchuk, a Kremlin-linked politician from Ukraine.
The photo spread online (1, 2, 3) shows a man in military clothing sitting on a chair with handcuffs. The accompanying text says the man is Maduro.
A reverse image search found similar photos published by multiple media outlets on April 13, 2022 (1, 2, 3). The face of the person in those reports is different. The reports identify the man as Viktor Medvedchuk. The Ukrainian authorities announced on April 12 that they had arrested the 67-year-old politician. The clothing, shoes, chair, background wall and color, and electrical wires on the wall and floor all match the circulated image.
Several Ukrainian news outlets (1, 2) also used the same photo and provided the same information. The Kyiv Independent reported, “On April 12, the Security Service of Ukraine captured the country’s most high-profile pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who had fled from house arrest in February after Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested exchanging Medvedchuk for Ukrainians held in Russian captivity.”
Russian news agency Interfax reported, “A picture of a former co-chairman of the Ukrainian party Opposition Platform – For Life, Viktor Medvedchuk, in military uniform and handcuffs, appeared on the Telegram channel of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening.” The image appeared on Zelenskyy’s official Telegram channel at 12:08 a.m. Bangladesh time on April 13. The caption said, “A special operation was carried out with the help of the SBU.” The same post appeared on Zelenskyy’s verified Facebook profile.
A closer look reveals that the military uniform in the image belongs to the Ukrainian army. It is not from Venezuela or the United States. A Ukrainian flag is visible on the left sleeve of the uniform. Ukrainian media reported that Medvedchuk was wearing a Ukrainian military uniform as a disguise at the time of his arrest. There is also a visible mismatch between Maduro’s facial features and the skin tone of the hands in the image. Fact-checking organization Lead Stories also published a fact-check report on the photo.
The U.S. military’s specialized Delta Force unit carried out an attack in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela early on Saturday. U.S. President Donald Trump said his forces detained President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and took them to the United States.
In summary, the photo shared as showing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is not his. The circulated image was created by editing a photo of the arrest of the Kremlin-linked Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on January 4, 2026. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
