War

Did Russians start digging graves for all the soldiers who have died during the Russian invasion of Ukraine? No, that's not true: This 2021 video of already-dug graves predates the invasion. The administrator of the cemetery where these graves are located told a Russian news outlet that they dig many graves in the fall because the ground becomes too hard…

Did British artist Banksy create a new art piece involving Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia? No, that's not true: A Banksy spokesperson said he did not create this image, which was altered from a screenshot of a music video by the Russian band Little Big. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 14,…

Does Ukraine produce 25% of the world's wheat crop? No, that's not true: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates Ukraine's annual wheat harvest at just over 3% of the global total. Ukraine accounts for 9% of the global wheat export market. Many of the world's largest wheat producers -- China, India, Russia and the United…

Did this video showing live gun and tank battles originate as a BBC News broadcast about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? No, that's not true: This footage did not come from a live news report of a real battle. The footage was filmed in a controlled environment and posted on a royalty-free stock footage website before Russia invaded Ukraine…

Was a Canadian firefighter spotted putting out a fire in Ukraine during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: That was a Ukrainian firefighter wearing donated firefighter gear from Edmonton, a city in Alberta, Canada. Kevin Royle, the project director for the aid group Firefighter Aid Ukraine, confirmed that the bunker gear was donated by the group. The claim…

Does a video show Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy playing piano and singing "Imagine," John Lennon's iconic song about world peace? No, that's not true: This video shows American singer Alejandro Manzano from the band Boyce Avenue. Manzano bears a striking resemblance to Zelenskyy but he was not doing an impersonation of the Ukrainian president when he covered Lennon's song. When…

Did Russian troops in Kherson find pre-made Ukrainian medals "For the Taking of Crimea" when they captured a Ukrainian military facility at Kherson? No, that's not true. The photos circulated by the Russian news media and social media users show crude forgeries. Ukrainian officials pointed out mistakes in the "award documents" and errors in the design of the "award", which…

Does Ukraine engage teenagers in its military forces by providing them with shoulder-mount anti-tank weapons and grenade launchers and sending them to the front lines as an Instagram post claims? No, this is not true: there is no photo, video, audio evidence or trustworthy eyewitness testimony that proves the deployment of children by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The claim…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin behead 12 bioweapon engineers in Ukraine? No, there's no evidence that's true: The allegation was published by a website well known for publishing fake news stories. The supposed source for the claim was an unnamed person close to former President Donald Trump. A spokeswoman for Trump told Lead Stories that the article is false. The…

Did this footage of a gun battle between Ukraine and Russia get caught on camera in 2022? No, that's not true: Sky News' YouTube channel posted this exact video on August 3, 2018, with the title, "On the frontline in Ukraine | Hotspots." The 2:51-long clip seen on Facebook starts nine minutes 41 seconds into the YouTube video. The claim…

Is it true that a Canadian sniper who calls himself Wali was killed in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol before March 23, 2022? No, that's not true: The person who runs the online application portal for Canadians volunteering to go to Ukraine told Lead Stories that the sniper is alive. Additionally, the sniper told Canadian news media that…

Did a Russian teenage volunteer die in Germany after being beaten by Ukrainian refugees on March 20, 2022? No, that's not true: German police said no complaint or report of such a killing has been received. The person narrating the video about this claim did not witness it and provides no names or other details by which such a claim…

By Uliana Malashenko Is it true that Ukrainian forces used the people of Mariupol as a human shield to blame Russia for civilian casualties on March 21, 2022? No, that's not true. The claim was made without photographic, eyewitness or documentary evidence. It closely mirrors claims made by Russia Today, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, and other organs of Russian…

Did this woman witness a detonation or bomb attack that destroyed a theater where children were sheltering in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on March 16, 2022? No, that's not true: Her path from a sports complex shelter to the evacuation site she describes on the video would not pass the theater location, which is in the opposite direction. Russian…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flee Kyiv for a bunker in Poland? Is this evident because he posted a video filmed in front of a greenscreen with a scene of Kyiv added as a background? No, that is not a conclusive argument: There is no evidence that President Zelenskyy is in Poland, and he maintains that he is in Kyiv.…

By Uliana Malashenko and James Rosen Was U.S. citizen Brent Renaud, who was killed March 13 by Russian troops at a checkpoint near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, an American intelligence operative? No, it is not true. The claim was made with no evidence of Renaud's affiliation with the CIA or any other U.S. spy agencies. He was an award-winning…

Did President Joe Biden's wartime ban on Russian oil imports cause the cost of gasoline to skyrocket and would completing the XL branch of the Keystone pipeline bring prices down? No, that's not true: Oil market experts and economists say the Russia ban is not the only driver of gas prices and bringing the XL section online would not guarantee…

Did NATO launch more than 10,000 air raids on Libya in 2011 with over 500,000 civilian casualties? No, that's not true: According to a NATO official, the claim is "bogus." The director of the nonprofit watchdog group Airwars says the account of 500,000 civilian casualties is "not supported by any public claim." The claim appeared as a Twitter thread published…

Does a Facebook video show Russian soldiers using a Soviet-era rocket-propelled grenade in Ukraine during the 2022 invasion? No, that's not true: Two military experts contacted by Lead Stories in March 2022 said the uniforms worn in the video don't match those of Russians fighting in Ukraine. Nick Reynolds, a research analyst for land warfare at the U.K.'s Royal United…

Does a video show U.S. paratroopers in Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine? No, that's not true: The clips in the video are at least six years out of date, excerpted from videos identified as showing U.S. military paratrooper training exercises 5,000 miles from Ukraine. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 7, 2022.…