After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, numerous claims about Ukraine's sovereignty and its position in the global food supply chain began surfacing.
An Aug. 9 post claims Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sold 17 million hectares of land to U.S. companies. The user singles out multinational companies Monsanto, Dupont and Cargill.
It reads, "Zelensky (sic) sold 17 million hectares of agricultural land to Monsanto, Dupont, and Cargill. Yes… you read it well… 17 million hectares to GM0/chemical companies."
The post has been shared more than 300 times. An earlier version was shared 1,000 times.
The claim is baseless. Under Ukrainian law, foreign entities cannot own land. The president does not have the power to sell land, according to Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the progressive think tank Oakland Institute.
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USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment.
The post refers to three multinational companies: Monsanto, Dupont and Cargill. U.S.-based Monsanto was the largest manufacturer of genetically modified seeds before it was bought by German drug company Bayer in 2018. Dupont is an American biotechnology company that manufactures chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Cargill is an American company...
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