Online articles and social media posts claim US-funded labs in Ukraine are developing biological warfare weapons, saying this is part of the justification for the Russian attack on its eastern European neighbor. But former US officials and non-proliferation experts say the labs are working to detect and prevent the spread of bioweapons, and have also helped in containing disease outbreaks.
An image of a flag that incorporated the Ukrainian colors originated as satire. This particular image isn't affiliated with any official LGBTQ organizations.
Snopes reported that Dublin's LGBTQ Pride Festival designed a flyer that used a different image of a flag that incorporated Ukrainian colors as a signal of welcome displaced Ukrainian refugees.
Our ruling
Greene and others shared an image that showed the pride flag altered to incorporate the colors of the Ukrainian flag as if it were real.
This isn't a genuine flag used by the LGBTQ community. It originated as satire.
We rate this False
Four days after the Tass articles, on 31 May, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control director-general Ifedayo Adetifa released a statement debunking Russia's claims.
"Nigeria has no laboratories where monkeypox virus is generated," he says in the statement, adding that the claims are "not backed by any evidence". On 30 May the US consulate in Nigeria also issued a statement, dismissing Russia's claims as "pure fabrication". And in a press briefing on 2 June, the WHO said the organisation hadn't received any request from Russia to investigate "US biolabs" in Nigeria.
US President Joe Biden never said that Ukraine should give part of its territory to Rusia in order to end the war that Russia has inflicted on the country. Biden has always stressed that the United States will never force Ukraine into any decision regarding a ceasefire and truce with the Russian Federation, only Kyiv should decide the terms.
Pentagon researchers have arrived in Ukraine to investigate Western technologies being used by the Russian military-industrial complex. American experts have found that nearly all advanced technology used in Russian weapons includes parts made in the United States and the European Union. Presently several countries are investigating how their production components got into Russian weapons systems and bypassed global restrictions on sending advanced technology to Russia.
The U.S. has spent $53 billion on aid to Ukraine as part of a bipartisan effort to oppose Russia's invasion of the fledgling democracy.
More than $3 billion goes toward U.S. schools safety equipment and personnel every year, according to market research analysis and federal figures.
Researchers largely agree that armed officers at K-12 schools do not prevent mass shootings or other gun-related incidents from happening.
Instead, experts recommend threat assessment programs to help school staff identify behavioral warning signs among students and intervene to provide support before violent incidents occur.
Our ruling
A Facebook post claimed that with the $53 billion spent in Ukraine aid, the U.S. "could pay five SWAT members $80,000 each and have them at EVERY school front door."
The U.S. has allocated about $53 billion in aid to Ukraine. And if one wanted to pay this amount to station five SWAT members at every public and private K-12 school in the country, it would also add up to about $53 billion over one year.
But that statement alone lacks context about current security funding for schools and what research shows about the effect of such measures.
More than $2.7 billion is already spent each year on school safety equipment and services nationwide. And this $53 billion, if spent as the claim suggested, would cover just one year of SWAT team coverage for schools.
Additionally, research shows that the presence of armed officers on campuses does not help prevent school shootings from happening.
We rate this claim Half True.
Verdict: False
A CNN spokesperson denied the outlet published such an article. The man pictured has been falsely linked to similar tragedies in the past.
Verdict: False
There is no evidence that Zelenskyy has purchased the property. The house is still listed for sale online.
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.