Fact-checking Donald Trump's Europe claims in UN speech

United States President Donald Trump made a drawstring of misleading and mendacious claims during his code to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) connected 23 September 2025, including galore aimed astatine the European Union and European countries successful general.

To find wherever the facts lie, Euroverify has taken a look astatine Trump's assertions. 

On European immigration

Addressing the UNGA, Trump attacked the full continent of Europe for what helium called "the unmitigated migration disaster."

"It's clip to extremity the failed experimentation of unfastened borders. You person to extremity it now. I tin archer you, I'm truly bully astatine this stuff. Your countries are going to hell," the president said.

According to Eurostat data, the stock of non-EU citizens successful each 27 subordinate states totalled 6.4% of the wide EU colonisation successful 2024, portion 9.9% of the colonisation was calved extracurricular the bloc.

Compare that with the US, whose foreign-born oregon migrant population stood astatine 15.8% of the full successful January 2025.

Trump aimed astatine amerciable migration successful particular, but statistic amusement that this is really decreasing successful the EU.

Frontex, the bloc's borderline agency, reported 239,000 irregular borderline crossings successful 2024, down by 25% compared to the twelvemonth before. The numbers continued to autumn during the archetypal 7 months of 2025.

The EU is besides implementing a communal Pact connected Migration and Asylum, designed to tighten its borders and asylum procedures.

It's besides disingenuous to overgarment ineligible migration successful a wholly antagonistic airy erstwhile statistic repeatedly show that it tin assistance destination countries thrust improvement and innovation, capable gaps successful the labour market, and code the challenges created by ageing populations, successful summation to taste and economical enrichment.

'London wants to spell to Sharia law'

In a akin vein to his attacks connected migration successful Europe, Trump made the bold—and false—claim that the metropolis of London wants to "go to sharia law."

These comments from Trump physique connected long-standing conspiracy theories that allege that London's archetypal Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, wants to person the metropolis to Islamic fundamentalism.

Sharia means the close "path" oregon "way" successful Arabic, and is the ineligible strategy of Islam. 

Sharia instrumentality is taxable to interpretation, and Sharia councils bash beryllium successful the UK, ruling connected issues specified arsenic matrimony and divorce.

Sharia instrumentality has been deemed arguable arsenic it tin struggle with modern secular law. However, the decisions Sharia councils instrumentality are not legally binding nether UK law.

Meanwhile, galore Muslim-majority countries astir the satellite incorporated Sharia instrumentality into their nationalist ineligible systems. 

London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan, responded to Trump's claims by stating, "people are wondering what it is astir this Muslim politician who leads a liberal, multi-cultural, progressive and palmy city, that means I look to beryllium surviving rent-free wrong Donald Trump's head."

Khan besides said Trump had proven helium was "racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic."

False claims astir Khan and his plans to promote—and prioritise—Islam successful London repeatedly aboveground online. 

For instance, a mendacious communicative claiming that the London politician planned to physique 40,000 caller homes designated solely to Muslims, to beryllium adjacent mosques and halal shops, gained traction crossed societal media successful September.

In reality, Khan did pledge to physique 40,000 caller assembly homes successful an interrogation with Muslim broadcaster the Islam Channel, but helium did not authorities that they would beryllium for Muslims only. 

Another fabricated punctuation was attributed to Khan successful 2020, which stated that London was trialling Sharia instrumentality successful 3 boroughs.  

How galore Ukrainian soldiers are killed per week?

Trump claimed that Russia and Ukraine are "killing anyplace from 5,000 to 7,000 young soldiers, mostly soldiers connected some sides, each azygous week," arsenic Moscow's warfare of aggression rages on.

Although Trump has repeatedly peddled the assertion that 5,000 soldiers are killed per week, it is hard to found the nonstop fig of soldiers who person been killed connected some sides since the advent of the war. This is mostly owed to a deficiency of reliable information and sources for the information quoted by the US President. 

According to experts, Trump's 5,000 to 7,000 benchmark is higher than the existent fig of worker deaths, with aggregate fact-checking outlets estimating the existent fig of Russian and Ukrainian subject casualties to basal astir 1,850 per week.

This fig is calculated based connected Ukrainian subject deaths, according to estimates that stated determination had been 80,000 casualties by September 2024, arsenic good arsenic estimates of 250,000 Russian subject deaths.

Although Euroverify was not capable to independently verify however galore Russian and Ukrainian soldiers person been killed since Russia launched its full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022, we person collated the disposable information to physique a representation of what we know.

According to the disposable data, much Russian soldiers than Ukrainians person been killed since Russia's full-scale penetration of Ukraine. 

In April 2025, the BBC's Russian work and autarkic Russian outlet Mediazona identified the names of 100,000 dormant Russian soldiers who had been killed since February 2022.

When BBC Russia and Mediazona incorporated unidentified killed soldiers into this tally, the fig of dormant Russian soldiers roseate to betwixt 158,000 and 229,000 betwixt February 2022 and April 2025.

Meanwhile, successful June, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimated that arsenic galore arsenic 250,000 Russian soldiers had been killed successful Ukraine.

As for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that implicit 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed successful enactment successful February 2025, adding that 390,000 soldiers had been wounded successful enactment since the advent of the war. 

However, successful September 2024, the Wall Street Journal estimated that astir 80,000 soldiers had been killed since the commencement of the war, which has since been refuted by Zelenskyy.

Trump connected clime change

The US president slammed efforts to combat planetary warming, peculiarly those successful Europe, calling clime alteration "the top con occupation ever perpetrated connected the world."

"Europe loses much than 175,000 radical to vigor decease each twelvemonth due to the fact that the costs are truthful costly you can't crook connected an aerial conditioner," Trump said. "What is that each about? That's not Europe. That's not the Europe that I emotion and know. All successful the sanction of pretending to halt the planetary warming hoax."

A caller survey published successful the aesculapian diary Nature Medicine said that much than 62,700 radical died successful Europe from heat-related causes successful 2024, and that much than 181,000 radical died from complications related to the vigor successful the summertime months betwixt 2022 and 2024.

The mortality complaint roseate by 23% betwixt June and September 2024 compared to the aforesaid play a twelvemonth earlier, according to the study.

A recent report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) stated that Europe is warming faster than the planetary average, with the planetary mean somesthesia emergence lasting arsenic precocious arsenic 1.28°C, and Europe's somesthesia emergence reaching up to 2.26°C.

This creates a dilemma for European governments, which are urgently seeking ways to support the populace chill without contributing to the planetary warming that is exacerbating heat-related deaths, specified arsenic done the excessive usage of aerial conditioning.

As things stand, entree to aerial conditioning successful Europe is among the lowest successful the world, according to the World Resources Institute. Only 1 successful 5 (19%) households successful Europe had air-conditioning units successful 2022, which is acold down the likes of North America (76%), the Asia-Pacific (47%), and adjacent good beneath the satellite mean of 37%.

Europe historically needed small aerial conditioning owed to mild climates and heat-retaining buildings, but rising temperatures person made summers progressively unbearable, according to caller reports.

With Europe present warming doubly arsenic accelerated arsenic the planetary average, the request for aerial conditioning is simply a caller and urgent reality.

It's besides been refuted clip and clip again by the technological assemblage that planetary warming is not a hoax, that it is caused by humanity and that it poses a important hazard to the world.