War

Did F-22 Raptors fly over Ukraine? No, that's not true: Only the U.S. owns and operates such aircraft, and the U.S. has no manned or unmanned aircraft operating over Ukrainian air space, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on February 24, 2022, under the title "Kashmir News 24/7." With 22…

Is there verifiable evidence of U.S.-run bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine? No, that's not true: The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) at the U.S. Department of Defense says there are no U.S.-run bioweapons laboratories in the European nation. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified on March 8, 2022, that "Ukraine has biological research facilities, which ...…

Was video footage of an artillery attack of a hospital taken in Ukraine during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? Yes, but some of the details have been muddled: The Facebook post incorrectly suggested that the incident happened in Kyiv (spelled Kiev in the post), Ukraine's capital city, and that the incident occurred later than it did. The footage actually shows a…

Does this video show footage of the Russian war in Ukraine? No, that's not true: This is 2016 footage of U.S. Marine Corps training that took place in the desert near Yuma, Arizona, close to the Mexican border. The mislabeled video was posted on Facebook by "MIL Show" on March 7, 2022. It was captioned: 🔴 Russian War In Ukraine…

Was an image of a man embracing a kitten while surrounded by rubble taken in Ukraine during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: The image was taken in 2018 in Turkey and is not related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 8, 2022. It has the picture…

Does a disproved meme using an old photo of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imply that he must have left the capital city of Kyiv in early March 2022? Does the Russian chairman of the State Assembly, Vyacheslav Volodin, know that Zelenskyy is in Lviv, in western Ukraine, and if not there, that he must be in Poland? No. In the…

Did Russia go back to using a currency that operates on a gold standard? No, that's not true: Although Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced the abolition of the value-added tax (VAT) on precious metals in March 2022, this change is unrelated to whether the Russian ruble, Russia's currency, is based on the value of gold. The claim appeared in…

Did Russia start offering humanitarian aid to Ukraine, according to this video? No, that's not true: This video does not talk about humanitarian aid once. It is from a Russia-controlled television network, RT, that the U.S. State Department calls a critical element "in Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem." Kherson, the city where the reporter is speaking, was one of the…

Did Nathaniel Rothschild write a letter to members of the British government calling Russian President Vladimir Putin "the most dangerous man since the defeat of Hitler"? No, that's not true: "This is utterly untrue and completely fabricated," a spokesperson from Rothschild's investment company told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 4, 2022. It…

Have American megachurches failed to offer help to the Ukrainian people? No, that's not true: An informal survey by Lead Stories shows several of America's largest congregations and denominations are actively soliciting and distributing relief to the people impacted by the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his "special military action" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The…

Does a viral image show a large group of Ukrainian soldiers praying during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: Although the image does show soldiers on their knees in prayer, the image was taken years before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The claim was implied in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 6, 2022. It has an…

Was a NATO-labeled laptop with intelligence found at the headquarters of Ukrainian nationalists? No, that's not true: NATO told Lead Stories the unit appears to be one of their old surplus laptops that was sold years ago, and one that would have had all classified files removed before it was sold. Separately, David van Weel, NATO assistant secretary general for…

Does this video show a battle between Russian and Ukrainian tanks? No, that's not true: This video shows American-made Abrams tanks in a training exercise. The video was posted on TikTok by an account called @mzhoneybunn81 and also posted on Facebook by Charnee Anderson on February 27, 2022, with a caption that had 11 hashtags: Shocking... #viralreels #reelsvideo #trendingreels #fypシ゚viral…

Does a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin show him putting his hand through a microphone, meaning it was filmed in front of a green screen? No, that's not true: His hand appearing to float through the microphone is only visible in low-resolution videos and not in higher-resolution ones. The video anomaly appears to be due to video compression and…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin bomb a villa in Ukraine that U.S. President Joe Biden owned? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that this happened or that Biden owns a villa in Ukraine. When searching for credible articles about the claim that Biden owned a villa in Ukraine, and that Putin had bombed it in Russia's invasion of…

Does a video showing a destroyed city highlight the "present situation" in Ukraine during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: The video used as evidence of the "present situation" is footage from at least 2020 that seems to show the aftermath of explosions in Lebanon. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 7, 2022.…

Did Alex Jones predict war about four months ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022? Yes, that's true: But the American conspiracy theorist said nothing about the two European neighbors during his InfoWars show on October 21, 2021. Instead, he said that "the smart money is on a war with China." The video clip included in the social…

Does a video show the start of "Russia vs NATO"? No, that's not true: The video, posted more than a week before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, could not possibly show the start of that war as the conflict had not begun. Additionally, NATO has explicitly said that it will not intervene in Ukraine. The claim appeared in a…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin threaten to "level the whole nation" of Nigeria for sending troops to Ukraine during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: In the clip used to make the claim, which was published in 2020, Putin is discussing the impacts of the novel coronavirus. He never mentions Nigeria. The claim appeared in a Facebook post…

Does a video claiming to show "Ukraine now" in fact show Ukraine now? No, that's not true: The video shows western Kentucky in December 2021, after the area was hit by devastating and deadly tornados. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on February 27, 2022. It includes a roughly 20-second video and a caption that reads: Ukraine now #reel…