A Russian court sentenced Brittney Griner, a basketball star from the US, to nine years in prison for bringing a small amount of marijuana into the country. By contrast, US teenager Audrey Lorber was given a slap on the wrist for a slightly more serious case of the same crime.
A video clip of motorists angrily dragging away demonstrators who were blocking a highway has been viewed tens of thousands of times in online posts that claim it shows Ukrainian anti-war protesters obstructing traffic in Spain. This is false: the clip was filmed in a highway in the Italian capital Rome. The group that staged the protest told AFP it showed a climate demonstration unrelated to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Verdict: False
The footage was taken during a 2017 event at the University of Ghent. The event was not affiliated with NATO.
Verdict: False
The photos show a set of custom-built Lego figures. A Lego spokesperson confirmed the images do not depict an official product.
With Eastern Europe in turmoil following the invasion of Ukraine, a Facebook post shared hundreds of times claims Russian President Vladimir Putin is 'in South Africa'. The post includes a video broadcast showing Putin arriving in the country for alliance talks. However, this is misleading: the video was filmed in July 2018 ahead of the 10th summit of the BRICS group, which was hosted by South Africa.
But a video being shared on social media a few weeks later perhaps buoyed Ukraine's supporters. The description in the July 17 post said "Sievierodonetsk's air defenses shot down 55 Ka 52 helicopters."
Dozens of comments cheered on Ukraine, with Ukrainian flags and GIFs congratulating the country.
That's because anyone who watches the video can clearly see that the footage isn't authentic. It's a video game.
We rate claims of this footage's veracity False.
Ukrainians were not involved in any way in the video that was published by Russian propagandists showing protesters blocking traffic. It was not Ukrainians who were blocking the road to traffic, but local environmental activists from the Extinction Rebellion organization.
A video of a railway track being removed has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times after it circulated in posts that claim it shows Lithuania cutting off transit with a Russian exclave after the EU sanctioned certain goods in response to Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022. Although Lithuania did follow the EU sanctions in blocking certain goods to Kaliningrad, the video has been shared in a false context. It was uploaded in a 2017 post about railway repairs in Estonia, years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Keyword searches found no official reports about Lithuania removing the railway track.
To strengthen border security in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on July 11 the EU launched a Support Hub for internal security and border management in Moldova. Neither the program nor the announcement mention Ukraine reselling western weapons or being involved in drug trafficking.
Social media posts share an image that purportedly shows Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky riding a horse made of banknotes on the cover of Money, a US magazine. But no such cover was published; the image was altered from a 2016 issue, according to the magazine, which is now only available online.