FACT CHECK: Did Ukraine Request The ‘Immediate Extradition’ Of Military-Age Men In Europe? | Check Your Fact
Verdict: False
There is no evidence of any such request. The Ukrainian government and independent journalists have denied the claims.
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NATO and U.S. troops and trainers have not died in Ukraine war
There are no NATO troops or trainers in Ukraine, and no NATO personnel have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022, NATO said.
The U.S. has sent troops to countries surrounding Ukraine that are NATO members, but the U.S. has not sent troops into Ukraine.
The Pentagon announced in December that Ukrainian troops would travel to a U.S. base in Grafenwöhr, Germany for military training from soldiers from the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command's 7th Army Training Command.
It's unclear how many Russian or Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded so far.
U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in January that Russia alone has had more than 100,000 killed or wounded.
We rate the claim that in Ukraine, 2,458 NATO soldiers and 234 NATO military trainers have died, some of whom are from the U.S., Pants on Fire!
Did Zelensky Order Destruction of Docs Linked to Hunter Biden?
False. The tenuous link between Hunter Biden, Rosemont Seneca, Metabiota, and the Ukrainian government notwithstanding, the "letter" from the Ukrainian government has been debunked.
The letter, which was circulated on Russian social media in 2022, was littered with mistakes that indicated it was translated to Ukrainian from Russian.
Fake: President Zelensky Сalls for a “Preemptive Nuclear Strike” on Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not called for a nuclear strike on Russia. Speaking online at the Australian Lowy Institute in October of last year, Zelensky pointed out that NATO needs to reconsider its pressure on Russia in order to deter Moscow from using nuclear weapons. The "preemptive actions" the Ukrainian President referred to are additional sanctions and military assistance to Ukraine, something Zelensky has insisted on well before Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2023.
Conservative commentators, politicians distort Biden’s remarks on tanks for Ukraine
Conservative politicians and commentators claim US President Joe Biden defied his own warnings about triggering a third World War with Russia by delivering tanks to Ukraine. But the quote shared as proof has been edited to distort its meaning; Biden said in March 2022 that having "planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews" would constitute "World War III."
U.S. Spent Much More in Afghan War Than in Support for Ukraine So Far, Contrary to Online Claim
The U.S. spent more than $849 billion in the 20-year war in Afghanistan and has spent about $113 billion to support Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022. But a video on social media falsely claims that the aid for Ukraine is “double the U.S. expenditure for its own war in Afghanistan.”
Posts falsely link Texas video to Ukraine conflict
A video of a flock of birds swooping over a freeway in the US state of Texas has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in online posts that falsely claim it shows a murder of crows in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in January 2023. The claim circulated online during the 11th month of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Fake: Ukrainian Servicemen Given Vouchers Instead of Salaries
There are no vouchers issued as "payment for service in the Armed Forces of
Ukraine". Russian propagandists took a military bond Ukraine issued in 2014
and created fake, claiming that this document is issued to Ukrainian
military in lieu of salary payments.
Tweets distort Biden’s comments on tanks, Ukraine and World War III
President Joe Biden announced on Jan. 25, 2023, that the U.S. is sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Earlier in the war, almost a year ago, Biden said, "The idea that we're going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, just understand … that's called 'World War III.'"
A widely shared meme shortened Biden's quote to make it appear as if he said sending tanks alone to Ukraine would cause World War III.
A meme shared in a tweet claimed that in March, Biden said, "The idea that we're going to send in tanks to Ukraine, that's called World War III." Biden announced the U.S. will be sending M1 Abrams tanks about 10 months later.
The quote is edited to leave out the full context of Biden's comments. He said the U.S. would not be sending offensive equipment and planes, tanks and trains with U.S. pilots and crews.
We rate the claim False.
Did Biden Say Sending Tanks to Ukraine Would Cause World War 3?
In March 2022, Biden said the supply of tanks and other equipment with—crucially— American troops on the ground would amount to what he described as "World War 3".
While the arrival of M1-Abrams tanks to Ukraine is new, the U.S. has funded the upgrade and supply of Soviet-era tanks to Kyiv.