Ukraine War

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 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…

Does a meme about mail-in voting correctly describe which countries forbid it? No, the list is misleading regarding some countries, lacks context in some cases and is inaccurate in at least one case by including Japan, which does allow mail-in voting as of April 2024. Many of the countries listed allow absentee or mail-in ballots for citizens who are living…

Was the captain of the Dali cargo vessel that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 24, 2024, Ukrainian? No, that's not true: A representative of the company operating the ship confirmed to Lead Stories that all 22 crew members on board were Indian nationals. The claim about the Ukrainian captain purportedly being in charge of Dali…

Did Vladimir Putin proclaim that Russia will embrace "the guidance of Black Jesus"? No, that's not true: A video claiming to be an authentic fragment of a Sky News live broadcast of an address by Putin was digitally doctored. The original sound was replaced by an AI-generated voice reading an AI-generated text. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Did Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, describe the Moscow concert hall attack on March 22, 2024, as "a lot of fun"? No, that's not true: The video purportedly showing an interview with Danilov is a deepfake, created from two other videos, with a synthetic voice track. Additionally, the website of a software company specializing…

Is this an authentic March, 2024 photo, showing flames billowing behind a President Vladimir Putin re-election billboard that reads "stability" in Russian? No, that's not true: The image was computer-generated, according to tools created to detect AI art. Earlier versions of posts with the picture contained the kinds of anomalies that are common to AI-generated images. The claim appeared in…

Did U.S. Marines arrest U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and her husband, Robert Kagan? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that the information in this claim is "false." This claim also appears on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by…

Did NASA announce it is planning to inject millions of tons of ice into the atmosphere? No, that's not true: NASA has no plans to carry out such a large-scale intervention in the atmosphere. This claim is a misinterpretation of a proposed geoengineering concept, which suggests using ice particles to reflect sunlight and potentially moderate the effects of climate change.…