A satellite photo of Europe being shared on social media appears to show a complete blackout in Ukraine. But the power outages, albeit extensive, are not total. The photo has been manipulated - we explain how in this edition of Truth or Fake.
Numerous accounts on Twitter and Telegram have been sharing a video they say is a report by Al Jazeera showing Nazi graffiti left by Ukrainian football fans during the kickoff game of the World Cup in Qatar on November 20. The media outlet, however, says that they didn"t make this video. Moreover, a number of clues have allowed us to establish that this is a fake news report and that the Nazi graffiti was, in fact, photoshopped.
Four photos being shared on social media of a woman having war wound makeup applied to her face and body are from a medic training exercise in 2016.
At least one of the images was posted by an Instagram user whose profile describes her as a combat medic in Ukraine. The same woman appears in three of the photos.
A Twitter user with the same handle as the Instagram user tweeted Nov. 25 that "enemy propagandists" stole her photos from the 2016 training sessions to misrepresent them.
Allegations that images showing war devastation in Ukraine were staged have been shared on social media since Russia invaded the country in February.
We've debunked multiple claims about photos, including a false one that said a teacher injured on the first day of the war was a crisis actor.
Our ruling
An Instagram post claims that photos of war wound makeup being applied to a woman are fake combat photos, implying the violence in Ukraine isn't real.
But the photos can be traced to an Instagram user who described herself as a combat medic veteran. She shared at least one of the images on Instagram in 2016. A woman with the same handle on Twitter wrote that the photos were from training sessions and were being misrepresented by "enemy propagandists."
There is no evidence the photos were staged to show an injury from the current battle in Ukraine. We rate the claim False.
UPDATE, Dec. 1, 5:30 p.m. ET: The story was updated Dec. 1 to add the response from an Instagram user received after publication of this article.
An Al Jazeera spokesperson told VERIFY in an email: "The video in question is completely fake and Al Jazeera never published this or any other material related to it."
A video report attributed to broadcaster Al Jazeera has been circulating online, claiming that drunken Ukrainian football fans were detained at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar for giving a Nazi salute and defacing posters with a Hitler moustache. But all is not as it seems, so what's true and what's fake? Find out in this edition with Vedika Bahl.
A viral video on social media allegedly shows President Volodymyr Zelensky dancing with a rocket launcher, as the war in Ukraine drags into its ninth month. The man in the video is actually a parody actor, not the real Zelensky. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
The bankruptcy of FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has sparked an unfounded claim that its former CEO had conspired with Ukraine and Democratic politicians to launder U.S. aid money. FTX helped make crypto donations available to Ukraine; it wasn’t taking any assets from Ukraine.
No, there isn't any evidence that FTX laundered U.S. aid money sent to Ukraine back to Democratic lawmakers.
An article shared thousands of times on social media claims FTX, a now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, funneled US aid meant for Ukraine to Democratic candidates running in the midterm elections instead. This is unproven; public records show no evidence supporting the allegation, which Kyiv, the Pentagon, FTX partners and experts have said is inaccurate.
A video viewed tens of thousands of times on social media has been falsely shared as showing Ukrainian troops attacking Russian tanks with US-made Javelin anti-tank missiles. While the missiles are among armaments sent by the United States and Western countries to Ukraine after Russia's invasion in February 2022, the clip in fact shows footage from the video game ARMA 3.