Social media posts shared after Russia invaded Ukraine claim a photo shows one of Kyiv's soldiers crying. But the picture was taken years earlier and shows a British paratrooper at a ceremony at which he received the beret of his brother, who was killed in Afghanistan.
A purported screengrab posted on Facebook in South Africa and shared hundreds of times purports to show a news item published by local media house News24 according to which Russian President Vladimir Putin told the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to stop meddling in its affairs. But this is false; News24 denied the report belonged to them while the Russian embassy in South Africa dismissed the claim of a warning from Putin.
Following Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, images purporting to show Ukrainians rallying in support of people in coup-hit Myanmar have been shared hundreds of times on Facebook. Although there have been genuine reports of people in Myanmar publicly expressing support for Ukrainians, the images have been doctored. The original photos were taken during rallies held in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv before Russia's invasion of the pro-Western country.
Social media posts circulating globally following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have shared an image with the claim that it shows a genuine Time magazine cover that depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin with the nose and moustache of Adolf Hitler. However, the image shows an artwork that was created by a graphic designer, who said it was not intended as a Time cover. The magazine has also told AFP that the image "is not an authentic Time cover".
Footage of a man and woman having fake blood applied has been viewed thousands of times in posts claiming it shows Ukraine "faking" civilian casualties following the Russian invasion. In fact, the clip was filmed in 2020 on the set of a series called "Contamin".
Nearly two weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the flow of false or misleading information about the war hasn't let up and now there are some outlandish theories being shared online.
Some have begun to circulate claims the war is a hoax, a media fabrication, or has been exaggerated by the West in terms of its scale.
We've examined some of them.
Rothschild & Co. has an office in Moscow and has been operating in Russia since the mid-1990s. Yet posts on social media falsely claim that Russia has barred the Rothschild banking family from doing business in the country. The claim is an adaptation of an old conspiracy theory about the family.
A story that claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin bombed a villa in Ukraine owned by President Joe Biden is bogus. It was created by a misinformation website that regularly publishes made-up stories. We found no evidence that Biden has a villa in Ukraine.
Claims about nefarious biolabs in Ukraine ' some supposedly "U.S. owned" ' are also fabricated, and part of disinformation efforts by Russians.
It's unclear what the blog is talking about in its reference to "pedophile rings," but it claims that Putin is wiping out "child trafficking covens" in Ukraine, and we found no evidence that these exist.
Social media posts, online articles and Ukraine's president hailed 13 of the country's border guards as heroes, saying they were killed on a small Black Sea island after rejecting a Russian warship's surrender demand. But Kyiv's navy later admitted the troops were captive rather than dead, and Moscow said dozens had surrendered.
A Facebook post shared thousands of times in Nigeria claims that Russia has sent two nuclear bombers to Venezuela, landing them in what it describes as the 'US backyard'. The claim, however, is misleading; while the events mentioned in a CNN report included in the post did take place, they happened in 2018 and have nothing to do with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.