War

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…

Did the Ukrainian president threaten to send troops to Ghana's border for alleged "jokes" about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war? No, that's not true: Not only does Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not appear in the video used to purportedly justify the claim, but the video actually shows Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the video, Putin talks about retaliating for any perceived…

Is this a picture of a cat, Mikael, "The panther of Kharkiv," trained by the Ukrainian army to spot Russian sniper laser dots and to signal where the sniper is? No, that's not true: While this cat may enjoy chasing a red dot, there is no evidence that this or any other cat has been trained to do the job…

Did Russian "spetznas" liberate child trafficking victims in Ukraine and did Russian President Vladimir Putin tell former President Donald Trump about this during a recent phone call? No, that's not true: "This is fake," Trump's spokesperson told Lead Stories. The claim was in an article on a self-described satirical website whose disclaimer says it publishes articles for "entertainment purposes." The…

Does a split image of Independence Square in Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv accurately compare the condition of the area before and after Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022, and tried to seize the city? No, that's not true: The bottom photograph showing damage is from 2014. The split image has circulated on social media sites, including in…

Did Ukrainians put a Russian tank on sale on eBay? No, that's not true: When Lead Stories searched eBay, we did not find this listing. We only found listings for books about Russian tanks and models of tanks. Also, this tank image has been on the Internet as far back as November 12, 2010. The claim appeared in a Facebook…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a meeting during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict to announce that part of Pakistan should belong to India? No, that's not true: The clip used to make the claim shows Putin talking about economic sanctions against Russia, not matters related to Pakistan or India. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March…

Do NATO or European Union countries have plans to send combat aircraft to Ukraine? This claim concerns a fluid situation that the original post accurately described: an announcement that, as of March 2, 2022, looks like will not come to pass after all. Over the course of several days this situation has evolved. On February 27, 2022, Josep Borrell, high…

Does a video show Ukrainian soldiers leaving their wives for war in 2022? No, that's not true: The footage is from a 2017 Ukrainian documentary film titled, "The War of Chimeras." The claim appeared as a video (archived here) on Facebook on February 25, 2022, a day after Russian troops began moving into Ukraine. It opened: Ukraine soldiers leaving their…

Did the U.S. military defy President Joe Biden by refusing to deploy? No, that's not true: A duty officer at the Pentagon told Lead Stories, "There is no truth to this claim." Also, this claim was made on a self-described satirical website whose disclaimer says it publishes articles for "entertainment purposes." The claim appeared in an article published by Real…

Does a YouTube video show a dogfight between Russian and Ukrainian fighter jets? No, that's not true: There's nothing in the 30-second clip that clearly identifies a warplane from either country and the maneuvers being made by the pilots would be highly unlikely in the middle of combat. Experts are divided on whether the grainy footage is legitimate, to begin…

Does a video show a standoff between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers? Yes, but that alone is misleading. The video is footage of a standoff between the soldiers in 2014 during Russia's invasion of Crimea. It does not show a standoff during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia. A longer version of the video was originally published by BBC News…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin destroy U.S.-run bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine? No, that's not true: There are no U.S.-run bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine, according to the U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) Threat Reduction Agency. An article that claimed "Western-sponsored bioweapons laboratories" exist in Ukraine was published on a self-described satirical website whose disclaimer says it publishes articles for "entertainment purposes."…

Did Ukraine's "first female fighter pilot" Natasha Perakov die after sustaining critical wounds in the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: Not only is a picture used to identify Perakov actually of another service member in the Ukrainian military, but there is no evidence that "Natasha Perakov" even exists, let alone that she was the first female fighter pilot…

Was the Ukrainian flag draped on the Statue of Liberty? No, that's not true: This is a smaller replica of the Statue of Liberty in Colmar, France. The photo in the Facebook post is from the "Official Twitter account of the city of #Colmar" according to the Twitter account's bio. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on…

Does this video show a train carrying tanks to Ukraine? No, that's not true: This train was filmed from several locations as it was crossing through the Tehachapi Mountains in California on April 22, 2017. The video was originally posted on the YouTube channel of train photographer Trains232. This does not show a current scene related to Ukraine in 2022.…

Did Russia send jet bombers to Venezuela during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022? No, that's not true: A CNN news report describing Russian bombers that landed in Venezuela to conduct exercises over the Caribbean was broadcast in 2018. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on February 25, 2022. The post has a TikTok that included…

Did Pornhub block users in Russia with a Ukrainian flag and a message supportive of Ukraine? No, that's not true: This claim is a joke or a prank. At the time of writing, the Canadian-owned pornography website pornhub.com has not canceled service to users in Russia. This claim originated with a February 25, 2022, tweet from @root_nomad. Screenshots of the…

Does a photograph show the wife of the vice president of Ukraine in military fatigues with a weapon fighting for her motherland? No, that's not true: Ukraine does not have a vice presidential position in its government, and the image is available from a photo agency where it is listed only as a "Ukrainian female soldier" in a 2021 military…

Are various images of U.S. soldiers embracing their families actually pictures of those soldiers headed to Ukraine during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: These images, some of which are years old, are misattributed because, at the time of writing, U.S. troops have not been sent to Ukraine. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published…