Category Narratives

No, Putin didn’t free 35,000 children from Ukraine

This unfounded claim originated on a website known for publishing misinformation.

Putin has freed 35,000 children in Ukraine, a country he's invaded, or anywhere else. There are no credible sources nor news reports to support this.

Searching for evidence that Putin saved thousands of children, we only found articles reporting that Russian police jailed several children for leaving flowers at Ukraine's embassy in Moscow.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!

Read MoreNo, Putin didn’t free 35,000 children from Ukraine

No, Ukraine isn’t the money laundering or child sex trafficking capital of the world

Other countries have worse money laundering and human trafficking problems than Ukraine, according to experts and government reports.

Now amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a post claiming Ukraine is the "money laundering and child sex trafficking capital of the world!"

According to the State Department's latest Trafficking in Persons report, Russia has a more serious problem with child sex trafficking than Ukraine. Both countries struggle with the issue, the report said, but Ukraine took action to address it between 2020 and 2021, while Russia failed to make "significant efforts" to eliminate the problem.

While Ukraine convicted traffickers, increased financial assistance to victims, and launched awareness campaigns, Russia "convicted only one trafficker," failed to "initiate any new prosecutions of suspected traffickers," and "offered no funding or programs to provide services for trafficking victims."

Russia, not Ukraine, is among 11 governments the report says have "a documented 'policy or pattern' of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or employment or recruitment of child soldiers.

The report also ranks countries based on the extent of government efforts to meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Tier 1, the United States' ranking, is the highest, but it doesn't mean the country has no human trafficking problems. Rather, it means the country fully meets minimum standards to eliminate trafficking. Tier 2 ' Ukraine's tier ' means a country's government doesn't fully meet the minimum standards but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance. Tier 3 includes countries such as Afghanistan and Russia that don't meet the minimum standards and aren't trying to.

We rate this post False.

Read MoreNo, Ukraine isn’t the money laundering or child sex trafficking capital of the world

Fake: Borrell for Resolving Conflict in Ukraine Militarily

Josep Borrell is proposing tougher sanctions to pressure Russia to stop its war crimes in Ukraine. He sees increased weapons supplies to Ukraine as a way of helping Kyiv protect its territory and its people from Russian army attacks and notes that Ukraine will definitely prevail.

Read MoreFake: Borrell for Resolving Conflict in Ukraine Militarily

Iconic photo is from Ukraine war, not Russia gas explosion

Olena Kurilo, a teacher, was injured on Feb. 24, 2022, when a Russian missile strike hit her apartment complex in Chuhuiv, Ukraine.

Her photograph was taken by at least three journalists that day and she was interviewed on video.

Photos in news reports that day show the apartment complex is not the building damaged by a 2018 gas explosion in Russia.

Our ruling
A social media user claims a photo of a Ukrainian woman that went viral after her apartment building was attacked on the first day of Russia's invasion is actually from a 2018 gas explosion in Russia.

At least three photojournalists took photos of the woman on Feb. 24 and she was interviewed on camera. Multiple news reports confirmed the attack on the apartment building that day, and images show the building is not the same one damaged in the Russia gas explosion. We rate this claim False.

Read MoreIconic photo is from Ukraine war, not Russia gas explosion

No, Tucker Carlson didn’t say this about Ukraine staging dead bodies

Some people have interpreted a tweet about Tucker Carlson and Ukraine to mean that he suggested the country staged dead bodies. But he didn't say that.

Russia has said without evidence that "fake dead bodies" were "staged" in Bucha after its troops left the town. Carlson, meanwhile, has been criticized for echoing Russian talking points. On March 9, for example, Carlson said a Russian claim that Ukraine has bioweapon labs was "totally and completely true," but there's no evidence that's the case, PolitiFact reported.

But this talking point, about staged bodies, wasn't one Carlson made.

We rate claims that he said the words that appeared in Wash's tweet False.

Read MoreNo, Tucker Carlson didn’t say this about Ukraine staging dead bodies

This video shows a TikTok creator using a green screen, not a protester interrupting a TV show

An image of a woman apparently bursting onto a TV set has been shared hundreds of times in posts claiming she crashed a Ukrainian news broadcast to urge President Volodymyr Zelensky to "surrender". However, the picture was taken from a video made by a TikTok creator using a green screen. The original news broadcast shows no interruption from a protester.

Read MoreThis video shows a TikTok creator using a green screen, not a protester interrupting a TV show

Russia pushes false crisis actor claims about video from Bucha, Ukraine

The Russian Ministry of Defense and other top Russian officials claimed that a video of a car driving through Ukraine showed two crisis actors playing the role of dead Ukrainians in a staged massacre. On Telegram and Twitter, they claimed that the video showed one person moving their arm, and another person seen in the car's mirror sitting up.

The video does not show a person raising an arm as the car drives by; it shows a mark floating across the car's windshield ' perhaps a drop of water or a speck of dirt.

The video does not show someone sitting up after the car drives by; it shows a stationary corpse through the lens of the car's passenger-side mirror, which has distorting effects.

Our ruling
The Russian Ministry of Defense said a video taken from a car driving through Bucha, Ukraine, shows a corpse "moving his arm," and then "in the rear view mirror the 'corpse' sits down."

Both claims misrepresent what the video in question shows.

The video shows a mark floating across the car's windshield ' perhaps a drop of water or a speck of dirt ' which Russia officials falsely portrayed as of a corpse "moving his arm."

Similarly, what Russian officials falsely claimed was a corpse sitting up was actually a dead person whose body appeared distorted due to the shape of the car's passenger-side mirror.

We rate this claim False.

Read MoreRussia pushes false crisis actor claims about video from Bucha, Ukraine

TikTok feeds users with disinformation about Russia-Ukraine war

According to NewsGuard - a media-tech firm that rates the credibility of news and information websites, misleading information about the war in Ukraine reaches users a few minutes after signing up on the app.

"TikTok is feeding false and misleading content about the war in Ukraine to users within 40 minutes of their signing up to the app, regardless of whether they run any searches on the platform," NewsGuard revealed.

Read MoreTikTok feeds users with disinformation about Russia-Ukraine war