Russia And Ukraine

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…

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 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…

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…