War

Was U.S. government aid to Ukraine misused by funding Democratic candidates during midterm campaigns through the crypto exchange FTX? No, that's not true: Social media posts did not differentiate between private donations and U.S. government funds allocated to support Ukraine, and no reliable sources reported that either of those was invested in FTX. The claim appeared in re-posts identical to…

Does a viral video prove that the founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, and other speakers at WEF events planned to establish the "new world order" and "microchip human race"? No, that's not true: The heavily edited social media clip only shows short soundbites taken out of context, which alters the meaning of the speeches. The claim appeared…

Did a U.S.-based cable news network publish a story stating that Russian influencer Hasbulla Magomedov died in a drone strike while fighting in Ukraine? No, that's not true: The story is a satirical fake created to look like a credible news report that makes fun of a social media sensation with a genetic condition. The claim appeared in an Instagram…

Has Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy written a book with the same title as Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the anti-Semitic manifesto for Nazism, and did Zelenskyy present the book to an Israeli embassy? No, that's not true. Social media posts showing the cover of the purported book, entitled "Моя боротьба" ("My Struggle" in English and "Mein Kampf" in German), used altered…

Did Titanic, a German satirical monthly magazine, release a cover in October 2022 that features an illustration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sucking money and resources into his mouth? No, that's not true: The October 2022 issue of Titanic does not feature Zelenskyy and the illustration has not appeared on any of the other issues' covers. The claim appeared in…

Does a video circulating on social media show evidence that war footage of Russian attacks on Ukraine was staged? No, that's not true: It took out of context the footage of actual film sets -- one clip dating from 2013 -- recycling the falsehoods that fact-checkers had debunked during the first days of the war. The claim appeared in an…

Is it true that Google translates the Ukrainian president's last name to English as "evil rules the world"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories replicated what social media users suggested others do to get this result but found no confirmation. The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) on October 7, 2022. It said: 🇺🇦 This is creepy .... Take…

Was a U.S. submarine near the Nord Stream pipeline explosion? No, there's no evidence for such a claim. This claim was made on the Real Raw News website, which is known for publishing fabricated content. There are no serious media sources that make this claim. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on October 18, 2022,…

Did France's ambassador to Ukraine, Etienne de Poncins, resign his post from fear of Russian bombardments on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv? No, that's not true: "This is fake news," Ambassador de Poncins posted on his official Twitter account on October 19, 2022.A Facebook account called RT Afrique, which describes itself as a personal blog, posted the French-language claim on October…

Did the U.S. military hang U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink for committing treason? No, that's not true: The story is entirely fabricated and Brink remains an ambassador in good standing. The claim originated on the website Real Raw News on October 17, 2022 under the title "Military Hangs to Death US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink" (archived here). It…

Does a video prove its headline claim that the senior commander of the Russian army was taken prisoner? No, that's not true: A video posted on Facebook made this false claim in its clickbait headline, but the video itself did not state or prove that a senior commander of the Russian Army has been captured. The claim appeared in a…

Does this video show an incident that recently happened in Russia, where a conscript was knocked down and run over by an armored personnel carrier? No, that's not true: This accident happened eight years ago, on June 12, 2014. During the swearing-in ceremony of Russia's 83rd airborne brigade, an armored personnel carrier knocked down and ran over one of the…

Is this a recent photo from Kyiv, Ukraine, of a man shooting at Iranian drones from his balcony window? No, that's not true: This photo is from a Twitter account that acknowledges this tweet is an old picture and a meme. The claim appeared in a tweet on October 17, 2022 (archived here), that opened: Casual morning in Kyiv: Coffee,…

Did the U.S. deploy M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine? No, that's not true: A video with a headline that makes this claim offers no proof. A tag in its lower right-hand corner says that "Video footages are used for illustration purposes only." The claim appeared in the headline of a video posted on Facebook on October 9, 2022. The headline…

Was a refugee from Ukraine recently caught defacing a tile floor with a swastika in a UK shopping center and then made to clean it off? No, that's not true: A bystander video of the incident first surfaced online in 2018, and no evidence exists that the young man scrubbing the swastika off the floor is a Ukrainian refugee. He…

Did the Ukrainian military fire a missile at the Kerch bridge in Russian-occupied Crimea, taking out a convoy of Russian tanks? No, that's not true: The video with this claim says the damage was caused by a truck that exploded on the bridge on October 8, 2022, and makes no mention of tanks. The claim appeared in a Facebook post…

Did a video circulating on social media depict the collapse of an orphanage in Kyiv after a Russian drone attack on October 10, 2022? No, that's not true. The video in a claim does not show an orphanage collapsing in Kyiv. The footage shows the collapse of the World Trade Center 7 skyscraper in New York City on September 11,…

Did Germany declare war on Russia on October 11, 2022? No, that's not true. There are no credible reports or official statements confirming this claim. Even a video posted on Facebook with a headline asserting that Germany had declared war on Russia provided no information about a formal declaration of war nor anything else that would substantiate such a claim.…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy use green screen technology, lots of editing and help from Hollywood to produce propaganda to "make things appear real"? No, that's not true: This photo shows a studio that created a hologram of Zelenskyy to deliver an address to audiences at four tech festivals in Europe on June 15, 2022. The hologram was not a…

Did the military arrest the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink? No, that's not true: Real Raw News, the website that posted the story, has a disclaimer saying that their articles are "humor, parody and satire." The site has a history of posting false stories of arrests and executions of government officials, celebrities and well-known public figures. Also, the Posse…