Fridman used a strange map of Ukraine during an interview with Zelenskyy: what's the problem

In an interview with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, American podcaster Lex Fridman used an incorrect map of the fighting in Ukraine. The video showed Crimea and four regions of Ukraine as fully occupied, which is not true.

During the three-hour podcast, published on the Presidential Office's YouTube channel on Sunday, January 5, a map of Ukraine appeared, showing the entire territory of the state in yellow. At the same time, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as Crimea, are shown in red and yellow.

All the territories of these regions, including settlements that were not under occupation by the Russian army, were painted over. Kherson, which was liberated by the Defense Forces in the fall of 2022, and the regional center of Zaporizhzhia, which has never been under occupation, were also "occupied."

As a reminder, according to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), as of December 2024, Russian troops occupied approximately 99% of Luhansk region, 66% of Donetsk region, and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

In an interview with Lex Fridman, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about possible negotiations with Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump to end the war, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko's apology at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, under what conditions Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire, the presidential election, and his readiness to run for a second term. 

Lex Fridman is an American podcaster, artificial intelligence researcher, and lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has Ukrainian roots, his parents are from Kyiv and Kharkiv. He moved to the United States in 1994.

Fridman has gained popularity for his podcast Lex Fridman Podcast, where he talks to scientists, entrepreneurs, politicians, and cultural leaders.

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