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.…
Is the wife of the suspect in the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico a Ukrainian refugee? No, that's not true: The head of the country's national police said that such speculations on social media are "definitely a hoax." Lead Stories found no credible news reporting corroborating the claim. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…
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 "Spetznas" snipers fatally shoot the World Economic Forum's head of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, Kiva Allgood, on April 26, 2024? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence that this happened. In addition, the website where this claim appeared has a record of publishing fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by…
Does a video on social media document a barrage of hundreds of cruise missiles and drones launched into Israel by Iran on April 13, 2024? No, that's not true: The video, found in a variety of posts, appeared on social media several years before Iran's 2024 attack on Israel. Lead Stories found examples of the clip dating back to 2022…
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 the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps find recently retired U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland "guilty by default" and sentence her to hang? No, that's not true: This claim appeared on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. Lead Stories previously found the claim that U.S. Marines arrested Nuland and her husband to be false.…
Did Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the Highgrove mansion from the United Kingdom's King Charles III? No, that's not true: A representative of Grant Harrold, a former royal butler who was cited as the main source in an online article making the claim, told Lead Stories that the claim is "completely false." Lead Stories found several signs pointing to AI-generated…
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