Category Fact checks / debunkings

Footage shows Polish flag at German band’s rock concert, not Indonesian flag

Two videos have been viewed over a million times in social media posts that claim they show an Indonesian flag flown during a concert by German rock band Scorpions after Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Ukraine and Russia to urge peace talks in late June 2022. The claim is false; the videos were taken during a Scorpions concert in Poland on May 28, 2022. News reports say the Polish and Ukrainian flags had been flown at the concert, not the Indonesian flag.

This visual effects video does not show ‘Russia’s vacuum bomb attack in Ukraine’

A video has been viewed tens of thousands of times in multiple social media posts that claim it shows Russia attacking Ukraine with a vacuum bomb in 2022. The claim, however, is false. Although Russia has been accused of using such weapons in Ukraine, the video in fact is a digital creation of a visual effects artist.

July 6, 2022
Escalation / WWIII Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Narratives Russia Ukraine War crimes

How the Frenchman Adrien Bocquet Whitewashed Russian War Crimes in Bucha

During the second half of April 2022, when Bocquet claimed to be in Ukraine, military operations were no longer taking place in Bucha, nor were any Russian soldiers being taken prisoner. The town was occupied by Russian troops from the end of February to April 1. That evening saw the first reports with videos showing dead bodies on its streets. That is, Adrien Bocquet could not have been in Bucha to observe "neo-Nazis committing war crimes."

July 5, 2022
Bucha Context Fact checks / debunkings Minorities in Ukraine Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine War crimes

Fake: Lithuania Dismantles Railway to Kaliningrad

The primary source of the claim that Lithuania dismantled the Kaliningrad railway is the Panorama satirical, fictional news site. The publication does alert its readers that all texts on the site are satire and not real news.

Footage of blaze on oil drilling platform filmed years before Ukraine attack

After Ukraine struck an oil drilling platform in the Black Sea that it said was being used by Russian troops, footage was viewed thousands of times in Chinese-language social media posts that claimed it showed the attack. However, the footage has circulated online since at least 2004, although AFP was unable to confirm where it was filmed.

July 1, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Russia Ukraine

No, Moscow was not targeted in a missile attack

The video does not show a missile attack against the city of Moscow.
Footage used in a social media video claiming to be from the attack was taken from unrelated incidents.

Our ruling
A Facebook video shared images claiming to be from a missile strike on Moscow, implying Ukraine launched the attack against the Russian capital.

There appears to be no basis to the claim as there has been no reporting or corroborating evidence that missiles were launched at the city.

The video misrepresented footage from a separate incident several years ago as being from the attack and falsely claimed a fire at a Russian facility was part of a Ukrainian military strike.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

June 30, 2022
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Russia Ukraine

Fake: Ukraine’s Defense Minister Declares WWIII, Calls on West Not to Be Afraid to…

Russian propagandist media distorted the meaning of Ukrainian Defense Minister's point. He did not declare WWIII, he said that it had already begun on February 24, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. [...]

Minister Reznikov, of course, did not declare WWIII. In a tried-and-true fashion, Russian media took a phrase out of context, and distorted its meaning to make a mendacious claim.

June 30, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings Media taken out of context Methods Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine

Fake: Britons Want to End Ukraine Military Aid

RIA Novosti has taken anonymous comments regarding a British edition Daily Mail story and presented them as the view of all of Britain. Several comments do not make a majority view, much less an official government position. Furthermore, RIA Novosti's claims completely contradict existing poll data, in which 74% of Britons support sending military aid to Ukraine.

June 30, 2022
Aid to Ukraine Fact checks / debunkings International community Military aid Russia UK Ukraine

FACT CHECK: Did A Pentagon Spokesperson Demand Lithuania Be Expelled From NATO? | Check Your Fact

Verdict: False
There is no evidence to suggest the organization is planning to remove any members. Representatives for the Pentagon and NATO confirmed the claim is false.

June 29, 2022
Disinformation European Union Fact checks / debunkings International community Misconceptions NATO Russia Russian propaganda USA

Did Ukrainians really place anti-Russian stickers around Auschwitz? Nope.

Several pro-Russian accounts have been circulating photos that they say show how Ukrainians put anti-Russian stickers in different places in Auschwitz, the former death camp run by the Nazis. The stickers say:Â "Russia & RussiansÂ - The only gas you and your country deserve is Zyklon B", a reference to the toxic gas used by Nazis to kill prisoners in the on-site gas chambers.