Social media users shared a photo claiming to show that a senior US military commander was among captives when Ukrainian soldiers defending the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol surrendered to Russian troops in May. But the claim is false; retired Admiral Eric Olson confirmed to AFP that he was not in Ukraine, and the photo appeared in Russian media a month before the surrender.
A photo has been shared hundreds of times in social media posts that claim it shows Russians queuing to purchase their final meal at a McDonald's restaurant before the American fast-food giant closed all outlets in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Although local media reported that Russians flocked to McDonald's restaurants after the closure was announced, the photo has been shared in a false context. It was taken by an AFP photographer in January 1990 at the opening of the first McDonald's restaurant in the Soviet Union.
J.D. Vance personally invested as much as $300,000 in the video sharing platform Rumble, although the precise details remain private.
RT, a Russia state-sponsored service that amplifies Kremlin messaging, posts its videos and livestreams on Rumble.
RT generates millions of views on Rumble, which increases the platform's value to advertisers.
Our ruling
Ryan said, "Vance profits off Russia propaganda."
Ryan's claim is based on Vance's investment in Rumble, the platform where RT posts its videos.
RT amplifies Kremlin messaging, and in the past two and a half months, RT has produced nearly 2 million views on Rumble. More views mean more advertising revenues for Rumble, and RT's presence adds value to Vance's investment.
But other programs on Rumble attract many more viewers, and the details on Vance's investment in the company are not public. Rumble's CEO earlier this year said the company has yet to turn a profit.
With that caveat in mind, we rate this claim Half True.
A video has been viewed thousands of times in multiple Facebook and Weibo posts alongside a claim it shows Russian troops blowing up a military convoy carrying US-supplied weapons to Ukraine. However, the claim is false; the clip in fact shows computer-generated imagery from a war video game called ARMA 3.
On May 14, pro-Russia social media accounts started circulating a photo of a group of soldiers taken prisoner by the Russian army. These accounts claimed that one of the prisoners in the photo is a retired American admiral by the name of Eric Olson. That claim is false: this photo actually shows Ukrainians taken prisoner by the Russians in April 2022, well before the soldiers in the steelworks surrendered.
• A Mississippi nonprofit, Operation Ukraine, sent $10,000 worth of baby formula to Ukraine in March.
• There is no evidence that the donated formula contributed to current U.S. baby formula shortages, which are attributed to supply chain problems that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the recall of some formula that led to a manufacturing plant shutdown.
Causes of the U.S. shortage are described by Bloomberg as "long-term economic pressures collid(ing) with a sudden supply shock." The long-term issues are related to the pandemic, which led to supply chain and shipping disruptions, as well as labor shortages. And the supply shock, Bloomberg explained, came when Abbott Laboratories recalled its baby formula and shut down a Michigan manufacturing plant because of concerns about contamination.
The claim that donations of baby formula to Ukraine are related to the current U.S. shortage is unfounded. We rate it False.
• There are no credible government or media reports that indicate the Starlink satellite service was used to facilitate the attack on the Russian ship Moskva.
• The Russian government did not order the destruction of the Starlink satellite service. That claim originated on a fraudulent website falsely identifying itself as the official website of a Russian political party.
Our ruling
A Facebook post says, "Space X's Starlink internet constellation has angered Russia as it was reported that the Starlink satellite constellation was used to guide the fire" on the Russian ship Moskva.
But there are no credible government or media reports that indicate the Starlink service was involved in the attack on Moskva. The claim that a Russian official ordered the destruction of the Starlink satellite service originated on a fraudulent website.
We rate this claim False.
Verdict: False
There is no evidence the Rothschild family owns Reuters or AP. Reuters is owned by the Thomson Corporation and the AP is a non-profit cooperative formed by various newspapers and broadcasters.
The commemorative coins honoring Volodymyr Zelenskyy were created for sale by a private company called the White House Gift Shop, not the U.S. government.
Social media users are falsely claiming that the Biden White House created special coins honoring Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite what the posts suggest, the commemorative coins were created by a private company, not President Joe Biden's White House.
The nonprofit White House Historical Association ' which runs two retail shops located near the White House in Washington, including one at the White House Visitor Center ' confirmed to PolitiFact that its stores are not selling the commemorative Zelenskyy coins. There is no mention of the coins on the White House's official government website, either.
We rate this Facebook post False.
Verdict: False
The cover is digitally fabricated. A Time Magazine spokesperson confirmed the outlet did not publish such a cover.
[Note: This article is dated April 2022. Zelensky was featured on the 26 Dec., 2022 cover of Time Magazine, as its 'Person of the Year']