War

Did France 2 intentionally misinform its audiences about an incident in the war in Ukraine on August 10, 2022? No, that's not true: The French TV channel's report about a strike that hit buildings surrounding Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overall correctly reflected the situation on that day, but one segment misidentified a building chimney as an unexploded missile. In…

Does a TikTok video prove that Ukrainians are staging Russian attacks? No, that's not true: The video is behind-the-scenes footage of a Ukrainian film that is described by its Facebook page as depicting "the heroic actions of the residents of Kiev during the occupation." The claim was implied in a TikTok video posted in August 2022. The video included the…

Did a suspect named "Samoylo Haidyuk" have anything to do with the recent killing of Aleksandr Dugin's daughter Darya Dugina? No, that's not true: A tweet making the accusation was using a photoshopped image of comedian Sam Hyde, the latest in a long internet trolling tradition of blaming Hyde for every assasination or shooting that goes viral online. In the…

Are Russia and China creating a "new global reserve currency" based on "rare earth minerals" as videos on social media claim? No, that's not true: The original source of the story, Russian President Vladimir Putin, brought up the idea of a reserve currency based on a basket of currencies of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa…

Does a Facebook video show the Ukrainian navy destroying "13 Russian warships in the Black Sea"? No, that's not true: The clip recycles old unrelated footage of Russian -- not Ukrainian -- ships in action. More importantly, the video never discusses the 13 "destroyed" ships mentioned in the caption -- the narrator only says that those are "on high alert."…

Does this video show pirates trying to take over a U.S. military ship? No, that's not true: This video shows scenes taken from different sources, but the opening scene -- a small red target boat under heavy machine gun fire, a scenario that appears several times through the video -- shows a target boat that is part of a U.S.…

Does a video posted on Facebook prove that Israel destroyed one of Russia's nuclear submarines, the Kazan? No, that's not true: The clip contains an image of a different submarine, and there have been no credible reports about any Russian submarines being attacked, damaged or destroyed by Israel as of August 9, 2022. The claim originated in a video published…

Does a video shared on Facebook and YouTube show a guesthouse of the Russian ministry of defense under attack? No, that's not true: The clip reuses shots of a fire in a Moscow residential building that took place more than a week earlier, and there is no evidence it has ever been used by the Russian military as a guesthouse.…

Is Russian President Vladimir Putin preparing to "flee Russia should he be defeated in Ukraine"? As of August 2, 2022, there is no publicly available evidence that such plans are in place. The post making that claim cites a Telegram channel that says it has access to Kremlin insiders, but provides no proof that is the case. The story appeared…

Does this Facebook video show a new armed conflict between Russia and Azerbaijan in July 2022? No, that's not true: The clip recycles archival footage, and the narrator admits that there are no shots of the supposed event. The claim originated in a Facebook post on July 26, 2022. The caption says: BIG SHOCK The Russian-Azerbaijan War Broke Out Entire…

Did the United Kingdom send warships to the Black Sea to attack Russian submarines during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict as of July 25, 2022? No, that's not true: No credible reports suggest that the Royal Navy sent warships or attacked Russian submarines in the Black Sea. Also, the images in this video post are taken from an article that instead…

Did Russia destroy two U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) operated by Ukrainian forces on July 6, 2022? No, that's not true: Kyiv immediately refuted the claim, and two weeks later, the Pentagon confirmed that all 12 HIMARS that had already been shipped to Ukraine at that point were still intact. The claim started to circulate on social media…

Was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rushed to a hospital on July 21, 2022, and placed in intensive care? No, that's not true: Radio stations that had aired such reports had been hacked, and Zelenskyy himself proved that he was fine by posting a new video on Instagram. In his video, Zelenskyy said, in part, "... here I am in the…

Does a Facebook video show the consequences of a Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian city of Shakhty on July 19, 2022? No, that's not true: The clip consists of footage from the Luhansk Oblast in Ukraine and more-than-decade-old images of prewar Russian wildfires. The video was published on Facebook on July 19, 2022, under the title "BIG EXPLOSION." It…

Did Ukraine attack the Kerch Strait Bridge, connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula to Russian territories, on July 13, 2022? No, that's not true: The video that makes such a claim does not include a single shot capturing such an attack. Instead, it contains multiple pre-war and unrelated images. There were no indications as of this writing that the bridge had…

Does a Facebook video show Ukrainian and NATO planes bombing Russia on July 14, 2022, resulting in a gigantic blaze? No, that's not true: The video manipulates information and uses irrelevant images. The claim was posted on Facebook on July 14, 2022. It did not contain any references to the time or dates of the purported events discussed in the…

Are NATO F-35, Mirage-2000 and F-16 aircraft "suddenly fly entering warzone" amid the Russian war against Ukraine? No, that's not true: The U.S. Air Force has deployed F-35 fighter jets to Estonia to increase protection of NATO airspace, not in Russia or Ukraine, as of July 15, 2022. The headline on this news story is clickbait, falsely claiming that Russia…

Did a huge army of one million Ukrainian special forces launch an all-out attack from the north? No, that's not true: Such an attack would be impossible. Ukraine's entire army is estimated to have only around 200,000 active-duty troops and some 900,000 reservists, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Video used in conjunction with the false statement is flagged…

Did a U.S. Air Force A-10 drop a "500-Pound BDU-50 bomb," destroying a 40-mile Russian tank convoy? No, that's not true: This is a clickbait headline with an eye-catching image, but this did not happen. The article paired with the false headline does not even repeat what the headline claims. The article is copied from a June 10, 2022, article…

Is it true that Ukraine's Sapphire rescue ship "broke into" Crimea in July 2022? No, that's not true: Russian forces captured the vessel near Snake Island in the Black Sea and brought it to the annexed peninsula months earlier. In April 2022, the rescue ship was returned to Ukraine, a developmeht that was confirmed by both Moscow and Kyiv. The…