Its is essentially fake news at this point. There are builds of 26.04 available for testing. While it hasnt applied for LTS qualification, that doesn't mean it wont get it - for example 24.04 wasnt given qualification as an LTS until April 2024.
None of this is a 100% guarantee but I would put money on UM 26.04 being released.
There is a lengthy discussion of this already on the forum: The future of Ubuntu MATE?