Russia And Ukraine

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…

Was a video about Ukrainian drone operator Miroslav Radchenko shared on social media actually produced and distributed by Al Jazeera? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no traces of such a report broadcast or shared online by Al Jazeera or any other media outlet. Spreading false narratives through clips with logos of real media organizations is a well-known tactic…

Did Donald Trump tell Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he wants complete and total control of Greenland because he was not granted the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes, that's true: Some questioned if the text message from Trump to Norway's Prime Minister published on X by PBS correspondent Nick Schifrin was real. Norway's Prime Minister published a statement on…

Did a guest in a clip from French TV channel LCI say Ukraine sent false strategic info to US intelligence services which they then observed Russian forces acting upon? No, that's not true: The video clip with guest Vincent Crouzet was about mounting distrust between Ukrainian and American intelligence services and the increased importance of intelligence coming from France and…

Does a viral image show Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro captured? No, that's not true: An authentic photo was digitally altered to swap Maduro's head onto the body of a captive. The image originally showed Ukrainian-born pro-Russian businessman and politician Victor Medvedchuk. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on January 3, 2026. It read: 😁The White House…

Does a viral picture of what looks like an Israeli passport confirm that Volodymyr Zelenskyy became an Israeli citizen before he became president of Ukraine? No, that's not true: The image got the spelling of his last name wrong. The machine-readable text on the bottom of the first page didn't fit the internationally standardized form, either. The claim appeared in…

Did President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy invest $500 million or $1.5 billion "of his own money" in "a ski resort in Western Ukraine"? No, that's not true: Social media posts misattribute publicly known investment amounts about such a project. Talking to Lead Stories, the project's developer denied not only Zelenskyy's participation but also the presence of any direct government funding.…

Did viral videos document that Ukrainian soldiers started to surrender en masse in Pokrovsk, as of November 5, 2025? No, that's not true: The clips showed a watermark of a generative AI tool. As of this writing, Ukraine denied that its soldiers in Pokrovsk were surrendering in large numbers. The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published…

Does a video show authentic clips of world leaders speaking frankly about controversial narratives? No, that's not true: The video clip was posted with disclaimers in the caption and in the video itself clearly stating it is AI-generated. It was produced and published by RT, a state-controlled network funded by the Russian government. The video appears in a post (archived…