Does a video of night explosions confirm that Chinese President Xi Jinping was overthrown from power during a coup in Beijing in September 2022? No, that's not true: The footage does not show the capital of China at all -- it was shot in another city, Tianjin, and was uploaded to YouTube in 2017. The claim appeared in a tweet…

Did Russian airlines ban men between 18 and 65 years old from buying tickets to other countries in response to the "mobilization" announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21, 2022? No, that's not true: Despite rumors on social media, there was no such ban at the time of writing. However, high prices, a limited number of available destinations…

Did Russians fleeing President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization of troops for deployment in Ukraine immediately form a "35KM" (about 21.7 miles) line on September 21, 2022 at the Finnish border? No, that's not true: The viral video started circulating online two days before this announcement. According to Finnish officials, border checkpoints saw a slight increase in traffic on September 21,…

Does a video show a convoy of Chinese military vehicles crossing the Russian border into Ukraine in mid-September 2022? No, that's not true: There were no reports of Chinese military troops or vehicles in Ukraine when the claim was posted. This video dates back to at least August 29, 2022, a date that coincides with the timing of Vostok-2022, a…

Were Ukrainians arrested in Bremen, Germany, while trying to sell on the black market Western-provided, Stinger surface-to-air missiles and "other heavy weapons"? No, that's not true: The video posted on social media with supposed proof of this event does not show a single arrested person. Moreover, its audio track appears to have been manipulated. Bremen police said that no such…

Does a "newly leaked report" from the RAND Corporation, a U.S. think tank, reveal the "true motives behind European Destabilization & The Russia/Ukraine War"? No, that's not true: In an email to Lead Stories and a news release on its website, the RAND Corp. called the "supposedly leaked" report "fake." The claim appeared in the September 12, 2022, issue of…

Does this video show Russian tanks abandoned in the Kharkiv Region during the September 2022 Ukrainian counteroffensive that overran Russian positions in northeastern Ukraine? No, that's not true: Lead Stories has corroborated open-source investigators' use of Google Maps satellite images to identify the long industrial building as being on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, more than 300 miles distant from Ukraine's…

Was a letter from the British Ministry of Defence about the Ukrainian Armed Forces' non-NATO-compliant level of training legitimate and "leaked" from the UK government to a website? No, that's not true: The published document's authenticity cannot be verified. Given several errors in English grammar and terminology, the document did not originate from the desk of the British Army Secretariat.…

Did German politician Friedrich Merz issue a warning that something would occur on September 24, 2022, which would be remembered into the future and not be forgotten by any person? No, that's not true: On February 27, 2022, just days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Merz spoke of the first pictures seen, and first thoughts in…

Did the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB), one of the largest German academic libraries, ask its readers to bring in Russian books "for heating purposes"? No, that's not true: SLUB General Director Katrin Stump denied the leaflet's authenticity and said that the library had filed a criminal complaint about the claim. The claim appeared in a Facebook post…