Vladimir Putin

Did Ukraine launch a counterattack against Russia by crossing its border and blowing up a Russian power plant, leaving the country in flames? No, that's not true: Although the Ukraine military has launched some cross-border missile attacks since Russia invaded the country on March 24, 2022, no Russian power plants have been destroyed by Ukraine and there is no evidence…

Did NATO send "10 thousand" troops to Ukraine? No, that's not true: There are no credible reports about that. Moreover, the social media posts that made this claim did not contain a single verifiable detail about the purported event. The story appeared in a Facebook post on August 25, 2022. The caption says: Putin is stuck: 10 thousand NATO Troops…

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…

Are Russia and China creating a "new global reserve currency" based on "rare earth minerals" as videos on social media claim? No, that's not true: The original source of the story, Russian President Vladimir Putin, brought up the idea of a reserve currency based on a basket of currencies of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa…

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…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin describe Africa as a "cemetery for Africans"? No, that's not true: No English or Russian credible sources confirm he ever said this. The claim appeared in a TikTok video clip posted to Facebook on July 25, 2022. The caption said: "Africa is a cemetery to Africans." The video opened with a man reading: Vladimir Putin…

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 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…

Did Ukraine attack the Kerch Strait Bridge, connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula to Russian territories, on July 13, 2022? No, that's not true: The video that makes such a claim does not include a single shot capturing such an attack. Instead, it contains multiple pre-war and unrelated images. There were no indications as of this writing that the bridge had…