Russia And Ukraine

Was Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin killed by Russian cruise missiles in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 3, 2024? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is false. On January 1, 2024, Austin was hospitalized in Washington, D.C., due to complications from surgery and remained there as of January 10, 2024. Also, this…

Did the combined net worth of President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris reach $69 million in 2022, or $41 million and $28 million respectively? No, that's not true: Posts on social media inflated the financial status of both families without providing any rationale for such statements. Compared to an average American, both Biden and Harris are more…

Does a viral video portray Ukrainian soldiers in 2023 wearing "WW2 era German helmets"? No, that's not true: The footage shows a traditional reenactment event in Belgium. Nothing in the video links the men wearing historic uniforms to Ukraine. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Instagram on December 27, 2023. It opened: Ukrainian soldiers on the…

Does a social media post accurately summarize the events portrayed in an episode of "The Simpsons" -- that a solar superstorm struck Springfield, causing an electromagnetic pulse that led to a complete shutdown of the town and internet access? No, that's not true: The 2013 Simpsons episode mentioned in the social media post -- Episode Nine of Season 24 --…

Does a viral video on the X platform prove that "the Kamal Hospital in the Gaza Strip" was attacked by the Israeli forces "with a bulldozer" in 2023? No, that's not true: The footage predates the conflict. It is a least a decade old, and was posted as news coverage of an incident in Egypt. The claim appeared in a…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin order "the destruction of a Kyiv pharmaceutical laboratory suspected of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines" owned by Farmak, one of Ukraine's major companies selling medical products, in November 2023? No, that's not true: The company's warehouse near Kyiv had been burned down roughly a year and a half earlier. It happened during the early stages of the…

Did Russia bomb "a cloning lab" in Ukraine's Donetsk, occupied by Russia in November 2023? No, that's not true: The website that published the claim relied on a fictitious single source, and that site carries a disclaimer saying it publishes "humor, parody and satire." No credible media organization reported the purported "news." The claim originated in a article (archived here)…

Does a video show a large billboard ad of an ABC News "Stand With Ukraine" message being replaced with a "Stand With Israel" message in New York City's Times Square district? No, that's not true: This video of the intersection of 50th Street and 7th Avenue has been edited to show a fake advertisement. The real illuminated billboard display at…

Does the cover of the October 2023 issue of the German satirical magazine Titanic feature a cartoon of people wearing masks depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with a title that translates to "This time there won't be enough sweets for everyone"? No, that's not true: Titanic's webmaster confirmed to Lead Stories that this supposed cover is fabricated. The official cover…

Were the "mass graves of thousands of children killed ... in illegal experiments" by Dr. Anthony Fauci found in New York City? No, that's not true: The police department for the county where the mass graves supposedly rest says there are no such graves. Additionally, a picture used in the article making the claim to illustrate a purported mass grave…