Fake: Greece Opposes Supplying Ukraine with Weapons
Greece pledged military assistance to Ukraine in resisting Russian aggression. The country's defense minister has stated that Greece 'will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.'
Category European Union
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Manipulation: Ukraine Drives Up Criminal Activity in Eastern Europe
The April 24 article on the French news Atlantico website does not claim that crime in Eastern Europe has skyrocketed because of Ukraine. The story refers to the so-called Carpathian gray zone, an area used by criminal groups from various countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, to traffic prohibited goods to the EU. According to Xavier Raufer, the article's author, the increased flow through the Carpathian zone is caused by Russia's war against Ukraine and its blockade of Ukrainian ports.
No, Ukrainians did not set fire to an Orthodox Church – Truth or Fake
In Ukraine, fake news continues to fuel the information war. In recent days, a video purporting to show a Ukrainian Orthodox church on fire has appeared on social media, with captions accusing "radical Ukrainians" of arson. The claims fit neatly into a Russian narrative that accuses Ukrainians of persecuting followers of the Moscow Patriarchate wing of the Church. But as we explain in this edition, the video is bogus.
A year of disinformation around the war in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has been accompanied by a ferocious battle of disinformation, waged in particular by pro-Russian agitators seeking to distort and shift the blame for many atrocities on the ground. They have sought to depict the Ukrainian side as Nazis or suggest that Western support for Kyiv is evaporating. Here are some of the main narratives, false or misleading, that have been fact-checked over the past year by AFP's digital verification teams.
A year of disinformation around the war in Ukraine | Fact Check
The war in Ukraine has been accompanied by a ferocious battle of disinformation, waged in particular by pro-Russian agitators seeking to distort and shift the blame for many atrocities on the ground. They have sought to depict the Ukrainian side as Nazis or suggest that Western support for Kyiv is evaporating. Here are some of the main narratives, false or misleading, that have been fact-checked over the past year by AFP's digital verification teams.
Manipulation: Bill Gates: Ukraine Is World’s Biggest Danger
Bill Gates did not say that in the coming years Ukraine will be the greatest danger for the world. In an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, the well-known philanthropist stressed that war is a "terrible tragedy" for the country where hostilities are taking place, but the echoes of this war also reverberate throughout the world. In particular, African countries are now receiving less attention because European budgets are being reallocated to other needs brought on by the pandemic, the war, and the energy crisis.
Elon Musk tweet amplifies false Ukraine casualty numbers
Online articles and social media posts claim almost 2,700 NATO soldiers and military trainers have died during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This is false; the military alliance has not deployed personnel to Ukraine and an official confirmed to AFP that none have been killed in the conflict.
Fabricated quote about defeating Russia to ‘avenge Napoleon, Hitler’ attributed to EU diplomat
As Western countries pledged to step up deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, social media users in Thailand shared a fabricated quote that the European Union's most senior diplomat Josep Borrell called to "keep using Ukrainians as our bait" in order to defeat Russia and "avenge Napoleon and Hitler". While Borrell mentioned Napoleon and Hitler in a speech about the war in Ukraine, he was speaking in the context of Russia's past military victories and did not say they should be "avenged".
Fake: Posters in Stuttgart Airport Calling on German Government Not to Send Tanks to…
A doctored image is being circulated online. According to the Stuttgart
Airport press service, the monitor featured in the doctored image only
broadcasts commercial advertisements or periodic notifications to
passengers about security checks and operational changes.
Fact check: Does the EU prioritize Ukrainian refugees?
Claim: Ukrainian refugees are given priority.
DW fact check: True