Category Ukraine

Ukraine: How a fake Russian TV report covered up a protest in Kherson

A report broadcast on March 7 by the Russian channel Vesti 92 shows a distribution of food to the residents of Kherson, a town in southern Ukraine occupied by the Russian army. But according to the town's residents, the footage shot on March 4 was actually staged and concealed one important detail: residents protesting the Russian occupation in front of the distribution trucks, as revealed by three amateur videos of the same scene.

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China repeats false claim that U.S has biolabs in Ukraine

China's government is amplifying debunked claims about non-existent U.S. biological weapons labs in Ukraine, bringing the falsehoods back into the spotlight on social media.

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A spokesperson for the Chinese government said the U.S. has biolabs in Ukraine.

The claim originated with the Russian government and has been previously debunked by U.S. government officials and weapons control advocates. Following Zhao's March 9 remarks, U.S. government officials strongly refuted the claims again, saying the false narrative was being used to lay the groundwork for further violence in Ukraine.

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Ukraine’s army is not using cats to spot Russian snipers

A tweet spread as a screenshot online says the Ukrainian army is using cats to locate Russian snipers via lasers attached to their rifles. But there is no evidence to corroborate the claim, a military expert dismissed it as "complete garbage," and the author of the post acknowledged it was intended as a joke.

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Misleading claims on US border guards deploying to Europe spread online

Social media posts claim US President Joe Biden's administration is leaving the country's southern border exposed by asking guards protecting it to deploy to Europe to assist Americans fleeing Ukraine. But US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says the claim incorrectly conflates different branches of the agency, and that the personnel in question are not primarily tasked with guarding against illegal border crossings and smuggling.

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Photo shows Slovakian soldier returning from Afghanistan in 2012 — it does not relate to Ukraine

After Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, an image of a man kissing a woman's pregnant belly circulated in online posts that claimed it shows a Ukrainian soldier kissing his "unborn child goodbye" as he prepared to fight for his country. But the image -- which has been shared hundreds of times -- has circulated in a false context. It was originally published by the Slovakian defence ministry in a 2012 post about soldiers returning from a mission in Afghanistan.

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Photo shows British paratrooper, not Ukrainian soldier

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.

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Doctored images do not show ‘Ukrainian protesters expressing support for Myanmar’

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.

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