War

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wear a T-shirt with an iron cross on his chest while addressing the U.S. Congress on March 16, 2022? No, that's not true: The shirt he wore had the symbol of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the left chest. Social media posts calling attention to the cross shape of this symbol tried to associate it…

Did Russian missiles kill up to 180 foreign mercenaries at the Yavoriv military base in Ukraine on March 13, 2022? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of any nationality but Ukrainians among the dead. Although it can't be stated there were no foreign volunteers or military trainers at the base, no other country has reported casualties among its…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publish a video telling Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their weapons? No, it's not true. The video is an obviously manipulated compilation of audio and video, called a deepfake. Zelenskyy's neck is grossly out of proportion as a side-by-side comparison clearly shows. There is no corroboration of Ukrainian capitulation reported by credible American, Ukrainian, or…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin announce on March 16, 2022, that Russia, having invaded Ukraine, had capitulated? No, that is not true: No credible independent or official source has reported such a statement by the Russian president. The video uses video from Putin's earlier speech, altered using so-called "deepfake" technology, so that it appears Putin is saying the words. A…

Does a video posted to Facebook show footage of a Javelin missile targeting a Russian military vehicle as of March 2022? No, that's not true: This video shows footage from the military shooter video game Arma 3. Lead Stories has previously refuted similar claims concerning images from this particular video game being used to depict genuine international conflicts including Russia's…

Was there an air battle over Chukchi Sea between Russian MiG-31 fighters and a U.S. RC-135 aircraft on March 12, 2022, as claimed by a title on a video posted on Facebook? No, that's not true: This clickbait headline overdramatizes a true incident that happened on May 6, 2021. This was not a "battle" involving shooting down planes as suggested…

Does a video on social media show "leaked footage of heavy war between Russia vs. Ukraine" in 2022? No, that's not true: There is a compilation of Ukrainian footage in the post, but it's from August 2014. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 15, 2022, with the caption "Leaked Footage of Heavy WAR Between Russia…

Does a video show a Ukrainian press conference about President Joe Biden amid Russia's invasion of the country? No, that's not true: The video is from 2020 and includes footage of a press conference with a Ukrainian lawmaker who has been described by U.S. officials as an "active Russian agent." In the video he is sharing a recording of Biden's…

Does a newsreel clip showing the shattered windshield of a car that was carrying American journalists when it came under gunfire near Irpin, Ukraine, show evidence of news media manipulation because the car appears to have a 2021 West Virginia inspection sticker? No, that's not true: While we cannot verify the specifics of the car in the file footage, it…

Did the Ukrainian Postal Service (Ukrposhta) introduce a design for a new postage stamp with the message "Russian warship, go fuck yourself!"? Yes, that's true: According to an announcement by the postal service, an online competition was held to commemorate the widely reported Ukrainian border guards' defiant stance against Russian warships in February 2022 at the beginning of the Russian…

Does a compilation video posted on Facebook show only war footage from the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: Although at least one of the clips in the video shows footage of the conflict, many are unrelated to the war in Ukraine. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on March 9, 2022. It included the…

Do low Russian gasoline prices prove U.S. sanctions aren't hurting their economy? No, that's not true: As sanctions by the United States and other Western nations took hold in the weeks following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, gas prices rose in the U.S., but the value of the ruble plunged by about 30%. That eats into Russians' purchasing power, which…

Did a pregnant crisis actor wear bloody makeup to play the role of several different injured pregnant women in order to be photographed in the aftermath of the real bombing of a "long non-operational maternity hospital" in Mariupol, Ukraine that was being "used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and neo-Nazi Azov Battalion," as suggested in a tweet by the Russian…

Was video of a Ukrainian tank smashing through a barricade on a street taken during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: The footage of the speedy tank was recorded in 2014, during that year's conflict between the two countries. The timeliness could be implied from a Facebook post (archived here) published on March 8, 2022 during Russia's invasion…

Did Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olena Zelenska, the president and first lady of Ukraine, sing a cover of "Endless Love" and post it on YouTube? No, that's not true: The couple seen in this video are not the Zelenskyys. The man is a member of the Florida-based band Boyce Avenue, and the woman is Connie Talbot, a British singer. The claim…

During the Russia invasion of Ukraine, did Russia find "over 30" bioweapons labs "formed by the Pentagon"? No, that's not true: According to public records, most of these labs were already known to Russia, as they were formerly part of the USSR's "Biopreparat" developing defensive and offensive bio-measures. The United States 20 years ago funded a publicly known program to…

Did the Russian Ministry of Defense "uncover" 30 bioweapons labs during its 2022 invasion of Ukraine? No, that's not true: According to public records, most of these labs were already known to Russia, as they were formerly part of the USSR's "Biopreparat", developing defensive and offensive measures. Those labs were funded by the United States 20 years ago as part…

Did Nigeria send over 5,000 "military forces to Ukraine"? No, that's nothing to substatiate such a claim: The Nigerian federal government has discouraged Nigerian citizens from joining Ukrainian military forces, as of March 7, 2022. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria reports that some citizens have volunteered to join Ukrainian troops but doesn't say how many. Also, the Armed…

Do these documents, purportedly acquired by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, confirm that Kyiv was preparing an offensive operation against Donbas scheduled for March 2022? No, that's not true: Although there are no formal statements made by Ukrainian officials on whether the published papers are false or true, the papers in question do not describe a new…

Did Leonardo DiCaprio donate $10 million to the Ukraine armed forces? No, that's not true: The Hollywood actor has donated to several charities to support humanitarian efforts for Ukrainians displaced by the war, but he has not made a $10 million donation to the Ukrainian army. The claim appeared in an article published by Thirsty For News on March 7,…