A video circulating on X, as well as several Russian media outlets, claims Olena Zelenska's "Russian passport" was discovered in a raid of the couple's flat in occupied Crimea. However, there are several inconsistencies suggesting its inauthenticity, including the photograph and serial number. Vedika Bahl explains in this edition of Truth or Fake.
Pro-Russian social media accounts have been circulating an image of what they say is a Ukrainian postage stamp showing a Ukrainian veteran who fought alongside the Nazis in World World II. It turns out, however, that this isn"t a real stamp.
Russian propaganda is linking the current bedbug outbreak in Paris to Ukrainian refugees. To "prove" this false narrative, pro-Russian accounts on social media are sharing fabricated French media publications from Le Figaro, Libération and Contrepoints, falsely claiming that "parasite experts believe that the bedbug epidemic in Paris is linked to the influx of Ukrainian refugees in the capital". We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
The video, which has USA Today's logo and style, has been shared across multiple social media platforms.
Posts sharing footage of an altercation in New York purport to show a security guard to President Volodymyr Zelensky starting a bar fight, in the latest example of fabricated Western media reports spreading anti-Ukrainian messaging. USA Today, whose logo appears in the clip, told AFP it did not publish the report and both the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the bar where the incident allegedly occurred also refuted the claim.
The Kremlin accuses Ukraine of issuing a national stamp with the face of 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a Canadian-Ukrainian soldier who served in a Nazi military unit during World War II and was wrongfully honoured in the Canadian parliament last week with a standing ovation. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
Footage of a large demonstration in Montreal is being misrepresented in posts that claim the protesters took to the streets to voice anger over Canada's support for Ukraine. In fact, the clip shows a march coordinated by four unions seeking higher wages in contract negotiations with the provincial government in Quebec.
A fabricated video edited in the social media style of American media outlet USA Today claims a member of the Ukrainian delegation provoked a drunken bar fight in New York during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the US, before being detained by police. However, in this edition of Truth or Fake, Vedika Bahl uses geolocation tools to verify that the "brawl" images were filmed around 18 kilometres away from the alleged site. Both USA Today and the New York police dismissed the reports as fake.
Social media posts claim photos show Oleksiy Reznikov partying on a yacht in the South of France days after leaving his post as defense minister of Ukraine. This is false; the image was taken near Istanbul, Turkey, in February 2020, years prior to the war with Russia.
The European Union will launch a new platform to counter disinformation campaigns by Russia and China amid growing worries, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said today.
A so-called Information Sharing and Analysis Center within the EU's foreign services —the European External Action Service (EEAS) — will seek to track information manipulation by foreign actors and coordinate with the 27 EU countries and the wider community of NGOs.
"We need to understand how these disinformation campaigns are organized ... to identify the actors of the manipulation," said Borrell.