War

Did a viral video show authentic property records proving that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife bought an Italian villa from singer Sting for 75 million euros? No, that's not true: A screenshot of what looked like a document allegedly confirming the transaction was forged. When Lead Stories accessed the Italian property records database, authentic documents contained no traces…

Did Kamala Harris' simplistic explanations of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on a podcast demonstrate she has a limited understanding of geopolitics? No, that's not true: This claim leaves out key context. Her answer was in response to the host, who asked Harris to explain the conflict in "layman's terms." Layman's terms is defined as "simple language that anyone can understand,"…

Does a viral video show authentic footage of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and France's Emmanuel Macron dancing before becoming president? No, that's not true: Heavily edited, it contained a substantial amount of deepfake shots. Other people's faces were digitally replaced with those of Zelenskyy and Macron. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on Instagram on June 29, 2024, under…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's wife, Olena Zelenska, buy a Bugatti sports car for almost 4.5 million euros in June 2024? No, that's not true: The invoice supposedly proving the claim contained multiple errors. Both Bugatti and Bugatti's Paris-based dealership denied the authenticity of the document shared online and a video supposedly showing a Bugatti employee confirming the claim appears…

Does a video posted on social media show Russian naval exercises off the coast of Florida in June 2024, as claimed in the post? No, that's not true: The missile launch test shown was performed from the White Sea in May 2018, not off the Florida coast in June 2024. The 2018 test was more than 5,000 miles from Florida.…

Did Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni say, "If Russia does not agree to the terms of the peace summit, we will force it to surrender"? No, that's not true: The comments attributed to her come from a falsified Russian translation of what she said in English at the Ukraine Peace Summit held in Switzerland in June 2024. While Meloni has…

Did China's Defense Ministry warn it would "intervene militarily" if the United States or NATO attacked Russia? No, that's not true: No credible evidence supports this claim. Additionally, there are no official statements or credible reports from the Chinese government or its Defense Ministry to support this assertion. Nor is there any report of such a statement in China Daily,…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the luxury Vuni Palace Hotel in Cyprus? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence that the Ukrainian leader bought the resort on the northern coast of the island nation. In an online statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Cyprus called the claim "Russian propaganda" and "yet another lie aimed at discrediting Ukraine and…

Does a 50-second video show authentic remarks by U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller discussing "military targets" in the Russian city of Belgorod, with "virtually no civilians left" in that city? No, that's not true: The video mixes video of different briefings, during which Miller made no such remarks. The words falsely attributed to him in the video were AI-generated.…

Did White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre field a question on the topic of alleged Ukrainian manifestations of Nazism from a reporter during a press briefing? No, that's not true on both counts: The reporter did not ask this question, and Jean-Pierre did not respond to such a question. An AI-generated voiceover has been added to authentic video footage from…

Did online talk show host Tucker Carlson release a photo of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "captured" and being sent to a high-security prison in Russia? No, that's not true: The image posted on social media is a screenshot from the Ukrainian sitcom series "Servant of the People" that Zelenskyy starred in before becoming president of Ukraine. The show's production company…

Does a photo of a toddler walking past the debris of burned village homes portray the damage caused by foreign mercenaries in Ukraine? No, that's not true: The image is a screenshot of a 2015 staged music video. In 2024, the picture was reused by the resources formerly controlled by now-deceased Russian mercenary boss Evgeny Prigozhin. The claim appeared in…

Did Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, describe the Moscow concert hall attack on March 22, 2024, as "a lot of fun"? No, that's not true: The video purportedly showing an interview with Danilov is a deepfake, created from two other videos, with a synthetic voice track. Additionally, the website of a software company specializing…

Are Sám Shevchenko, Samel Hydruskli or Samuel Hydenko the names of any of the suspects in the deadly March 22, 2024, concert hall attack in Moscow, Russia? No, that's not true: In the wake of mass shootings, naming "Sam Hyde" and variations of that name as a shooter is an often-recycled internet meme. It plays on the name of Sam…

Does a video circulating on social media show a Russian propagandist's outtake -- a live actor having a cigarette break while pretending to be a corpse after the deadly March 22, 2024, music venue attack in Moscow? No, that's not true: This video - which has been used in disinformation repeatedly - does show actors. This is a behind-the-scenes view…

Does a viral image show "3 shooters" identified as participants in a terror attack that took place at Crocus City Hall, a major music venue in Moscow, Russia, on March 22, 2024? No, that's not true: The pictures in question are all of one person and date to summer 2023. At the time, Russian pro-Kremlin media citing the Federal Security…

Is this an authentic March, 2024 photo, showing flames billowing behind a President Vladimir Putin re-election billboard that reads "stability" in Russian? No, that's not true: The image was computer-generated, according to tools created to detect AI art. Earlier versions of posts with the picture contained the kinds of anomalies that are common to AI-generated images. The claim appeared in…

Does a video show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doing a crotch-jiggling belly dance in a nude sparkly leotard? No, that's not true: The footage is doctored -- it uses video of Argentinian dancer Pablo Acosta with the head of Zelenskyy. Acosta posted the original video showing himself in the bedazzled flesh-colored bodysuit with high boots on his own Instagram page…

Did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say that Russia must win this war? Yes: Trudeau did misspeak at the end of a news conference in Poland. While speaking of how aid and military equipment would be supplied to Ukraine, he accidentally said "Russia must win this war." He immediately corrected himself and said, "Ukraine must win this war against Russia."…

Did France 24 report that French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a visit to Ukraine over fears of an assassination attempt? No, that's not true: France 24 debunked the claim. The video purporting to show the network report the news is a deepfake, generated by AI. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on…