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…

Did a U.S. Air Force A-10 drop a "500-Pound BDU-50 bomb," destroying a 40-mile Russian tank convoy? No, that's not true: This is a clickbait headline with an eye-catching image, but this did not happen. The article paired with the false headline does not even repeat what the headline claims. The article is copied from a June 10, 2022, article…

Did Belarus declare war on Poland and does this video prove it? No, that's not true: Belarus has not declared war on its much more populous western neighbor as of July 12, 2022, and this video does not offer any proof of an action that would instantly attract international news coverage. A Nato spokesman said the claim is false and…

Did the military convict and execute former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann? No, that's not true: Sussmann was not convicted or executed and the claim was made without documentary evidence. The website that posted this claim is known for its satirical content. The claim originated in an article (archived here) titled "Military Convicts and Executes Michael Sussmann" and published…

Was a pedophile who molested a 2-year-old girl whipped to death by Eddie Lavelle Wilson, a man who "loves the child dearly"? No, that's not true: These stills were taken from a real video that was filmed in the area around Kommunar in eastern Ukraine and widely distributed in 2016. The video shows a man taped to a post who…

Is it true that Russia destroyed a NATO base in the Ukrainian city of Ochakiv? No, it's not true. Not a single NATO facility has ever existed in Ukraine. The Ochakiv naval base belongs to Ukraine, not NATO. While it was reported that Russians shelled the base on more than one occasion, a video of its purported destruction contains unrelated…

Is it true that at the beginning of June 2022 Poland annexed Ukraine? No that's not true. Such posts on social networks began to appear after the publication of a press release from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, in which the alleged state contract for the construction in Poland of a backup data processing center of the Ukrainian tax service…