Drones

Did Ukraine capture an entire "train" carrying multiple SU-57 jets used by the Russian army? No, that's not true: The video making such a claim in its clickbait headline did not actually say anything about this fighter jet. As of this writing, there is no evidence that Ukraine was able to seize any SU-57s. The claim appeared in a reel…

Is there a huge traffic jam leaving Kyiv to get to western Ukraine "right now," on July 17, 2023? No, that's not true: The video shown in this tweet goes back at least to August 22, 2022. It does not show a traffic jam made up of people fleeing Kyiv for western Ukraine due to purported concerns over Russian retaliation…

Does a video authentically show footage captured by a Ukrainian drone flying over Moscow in April 2023? No, that's not true: The video shared on Twitter was originally posted to YouTube in 2015 by AirPano, a virtual reality production studio "focused on taking high-resolution" aerial footage. In 2023, an 11-second clip of that video was cropped from a horizontal shape…

Does this video show the military enforcement of a no-fly zone over Antarctica? No, that's not true: This video shows a demonstration of the U.S. military intervening when a plane violates presidential airspace. Filmed by the "Today" show in 2017, it shows the United States -- not Antarctica. While there are practical caveats to consider when flying to Antarctica's frigid…

Is this a recent photo from Kyiv, Ukraine, of a man shooting at Iranian drones from his balcony window? No, that's not true: This photo is from a Twitter account that acknowledges this tweet is an old picture and a meme. The claim appeared in a tweet on October 17, 2022 (archived here), that opened: Casual morning in Kyiv: Coffee,…

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…

Does a Facebook video show Ukrainian and NATO planes bombing Russia on July 14, 2022, resulting in a gigantic blaze? No, that's not true: The video manipulates information and uses irrelevant images. The claim was posted on Facebook on July 14, 2022. It did not contain any references to the time or dates of the purported events discussed in the…

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…

Does this photo show a U.S. military polymer drone that looks like a live fly? No, that's not true: This is not a drone but an example of a bot fly, the collections manager of the University of Arizona's Insect Collection told Lead Stories in an email. It belongs to the genus Cuterebra, the senior museum scientist at The Entomology…

Did the U.S. Navy encounter real UFOs in July 2019 and shoot "hundreds of bullets" at them? No, that's not true: The Navy defined the objects as "unmanned aerial systems" (UAS), or as news reports described them, drones. The objects were originally classified as unidentified, but after May 17, 2022, testimony by Navy and Department of Defense officials and further…