Russia

Did UN Women publish a report saying it confirmed "639 rapes and over 3,000 cases of sexual harassment in the Ukrainian Armed Forces"? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, there was no such report on the UN Women website, and the organization confirmed to Lead Stories it had never published such data. Posts with the claim reused…

Did Israeli-based news outlet Haaretz report that Zelenskyy's former associate Timur Mindich fled to Israel carrying "800kg of gold" on a private jet? No, that's not true: The claim shared in viral posts originated from a counterfeit website that mimicked Haaretz. No credible news organizations reported on "800kg of gold" supposedly carried by Mindich on board the plane bound for…

In a real social media post, did Donald Trump write about a Joe Biden visit to Moscow in 1987 and implicate him in various conspiracy theories? No, that's not true: The supposed post does not appear on the president's official Truth Social account, and there are no reliable reports that it ever did. Biden also never visited Moscow in 1987.…

Does a viral video of people washing their clothes in a fountain actually show "Indian visitors" seen at one of the major parks in Moscow, Russia? No, that's not true: The video was initially labeled as AI content. Lead Stories' manual analysis showed numerous inconsistencies strongly pointing to AI as well. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…

Is a video showing a prisoner grabbing a female prison guard who is putting a dinner tray in their cell real? No, that's not true: The video shows clear signs of being AI-generated, and a detection tool confirmed this with 99.9% certainty. While the earliest versions of the video found online provided no sources or specific details about the alleged…

Does a video show a Russian submarine arriving in Havana, Cuba, in May 2026? No, that's not true: The footage dates back to June 2024, when a nuclear-powered Russian submarine and three Russian warships arrived in Havana as part of a port visit coinciding with Russian naval exercises in the Caribbean. The clip resurfaced in social media posts falsely claiming…

Did Cole Tomas Allen's brother or family give the police a warning 48 hours in advance of his shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner? No, that's not true: Court documents filed in the case against Allen state that members of his family found out minutes before the attack. According to the documents, an email was sent to members of…

Did the Russian state-owned news agency TASS accurately report that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is listed as a child trafficker in the Epstein files? No, that's not true: Zelensky's name does appear in 39 documents in the Epstein records on the U.S. Department of Justice website. However, none of those documents have anything to do with child trafficking. The claim…

Did the BBC air a report allegedly capturing a stolen Cézanne painting on the wall of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's presidential office? No, that's not true: The video was doctored to replace a real painting. The work of art seen in the original footage of a different presidential address was painted by a Ukrainian impressionist. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin say "Don't dare to touch the Strait of Hormuz" on April 1, 2026? No, that's not true: The posts attributing those words to him originated from self-described satire and parody accounts. The fake story was spreading across social media platforms paired with a well-known video meme showing Putin walking. The claim appeared in a post…