Fact checks: from across the internet
Ukraine Fact Check presents fact checks on Ukraine in two different ways. Our team works to:
1. index and tag existing fact-check articles from reputable sources from across the internet;
2. compile and publish original fact check articles, based our team’s own research into a subject.
Below, you can find the fact-check articles published by other websites across the internet.
Disclaimer: Ukraine Fact Check was not involved in producing the articles listed below. The information presented in them may be incorrect, incomplete, or misleading. As with any other type of article, read with a critical eye, check sources, and seek other opinions before making up your mind on important topics.
Fake: Prince Harry Met with a Boy Injured in a Fire, Set by a Drunk Mother – Ukraine Tried to Pass Him Off as a War Victim
BBC News did not release such a story. The boy in the photo is named Roman Oleksiv – he received burns as a result of a Russian missile strike on Vinnytsia in 2022.
Fake: Ukrainian POW Forced to Sign Posthumous Organ Donation Consent by Commander
The document in the photo is a consent form for legal posthumous organ donation in the province of Ontario, Canada. Only Canadian citizens or those who have permanent residence, as well as state health insurance, can apply for donation. Most likely, the propagandists simply downloaded the form from the Internet.
Fake: Ukrainian Ombudsman Calls on Sex Workers Abroad to Promote Pro-Ukrainian Ideas Among Clients
This video, like Kateryna Levchenko’s quote, is fabricated by propagandists.
Pic of New York Post headline calling European women leaders an expletive is fake | Snopes.com
Fake.
Context: The image was a misleadingly edited screenshot of an article that ran in the New York Post. The real headline of that article was, “Meet the tough women leaders taking on Vladimir Putin.”
Fact Check: NATO troops in Estonia for 2025 Independence Day, not military escalation
A video of NATO troops and armoured vehicles in Estonia in February is not evidence of a recent military escalation with Russia, as has been suggested online.
VERDICT: Miscaptioned. The video shows NATO troops in Tallinn on February 24, 2025, for Estonia’s Independence Day, according to NATO and British officials. Photos posted online in 2024 suggest the three armoured vehicles in the video were in Estonia long before February.
Fake: Zelenskyy Buys Controlling Interest in Northam Platinum Ltd – South Africa’s Largest Platinum Mining Company
This claim is false and has been officially denied by company representatives.
Fake: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Proposed to Resettle Gaza Residents to Ukraine and Syria
The statement about the proposal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resettle the population of Gaza to Ukraine and Syria is a fake.
Fake: Russian Forces Attacked Restaurant with NATO Troops in Kryvyi Rih
On 4 April 2025, Russian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on a residential area in Kryvyi Rih. The missile, equipped with a cluster warhead, landed near a children’s playground, causing heavy civilian casualties. Twenty people were killed, nine of them children. Video footage from the restaurant, which was also damaged in the strike, clearly shows that no military personnel were present at the time of the attack.
Fake: Ukraine Seeks to Buy Uranium from Niger to Develop Nuclear Weapons
This claim, made by propagandists citing African media, is false – mainly because Defence Minister Rustem Umerov did not visit Niger in November 2023. Moreover, by the end of 2024, the French company Orano had lost control of uranium mining in Niger, and the country’s main uranium buyers are now Russia and China.
Fake: Ukrainian Soldier Admits that Ukrainian Forces ‘Killed Children in Sudzha’
The claim circulating on Russian platforms that a Ukrainian soldier allegedly confessed to killing a child near Sudzha is either fake or at least unverified. The message was posted on a Facebook account that, according to available data, previously belonged to Ukrainian soldier Artur Yakovitskyi. His family has reported him missing – according to open sources, he disappeared near the settlement of Sudzha on 28 February 2025. On 28 March, a suspicious post appeared on his Facebook page, allegedly containing a confession to the murder. On 1 April, a screenshot of this post began actively circulating on pro-Russian Telegram channels. The image of the “murdered teenager” attached to the post was likely generated by artificial intelligence – this is supported by the analysis results of several AI detection tools.
Fake: BBC Labels Valerii Zaluzhnyi ‘Next President of Ukraine’
The claim that BBC News labelled a photo of Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, as the “next president of Ukraine” is unfounded and constitutes disinformation. The screenshot, purportedly taken from a BBC News broadcast, has been faked.
Fake front page Ukraine story linked to Russian disinformation | AAP
WHAT WAS CLAIMED: A UK regional newspaper says 70,000 Ukrainian Soldiers died in Kursk.
OUR VERDICT: False. The newspaper front page is fake.
Fake: Ukraine’s Presidential Office Claims EU ‘Owes’ Ukraine for Security
The propagandists fabricated a screenshot of a Ukrainian news article with a quote purporting to be from Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, saying that EU countries ‘owe’ Ukraine for security. In reality, Podolyak said that each country independently determines the amount of military assistance Ukraine can expect.
FACT CHECK: Charlie Hebdo Magazine Cover Of Zelenskyy Is Fake
A post shared on Facebook claims to show a Charlie Hebdo magazine cover of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Verdict: False
There is no evidence that this image was created by the magazine. It is fake.
Fake: France Refused to Provide CIA with Information on Ukrainian Corrupt Officials – Euronews
Neither Euronews nor any other trustworthy source has reported such an incident.
Fact Check: Photo of world leaders removing suit jackets for Ukraine is altered
VERDICT: Altered. The image is a manipulated version of an authentic group photo.
Fake: The French Foreign Ministry Denies Macron Called Zelenskyy
No video with such content was published by the French news channel BFMTV.
Manipulation: Ukraine ‘Violated Obligation to Maintain Energy Ceasefire’
Russia itself has not stopped attacking Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure for a single day – neither after Zelenskyy’s promise to stop such attacks, nor after Putin’s conversation with Donald Trump, during which the Russian leader supposedly ordered a halt to attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. After the alleged ‘agreement to stop strikes’, Russia continues to launch more than a hundred attack drones into Ukraine every day, targeting energy facilities, among other targets. The most massive attacks after the agreement between Putin and Trump were Russian strikes on the regions of Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Sumy and Kyiv regions.
US President Trump’s claims about Zelenskyy and Ukraine fact-checked
Claim: Zelenskyy started the war with Russia
Claim: Zelenskyy is a dictator
Claim: Zelenskyy has a 4 percent approval rating
Claim: The US has spent $350bn to help Ukraine
Claim: Zelenskyy said he doesn’t know where half of the money the US has given Ukraine went
Claim: Zelenskyy was ‘sleeping and unavailable’ to meet Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week in Kyiv
Fake: Russia Shot Down Its Own Drones Over Ukraine After Trump’s Conversation with Putin
Despite the unsubstantiated statements of the Russian Defen?e Ministry, Russia continued shelling Ukraine even after the US President talked on the phone with the Kremlin leader. Energy infrastructure in the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions was shelled. In total on the night of March 18-19, 2025, 2 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, as well as 145 Shahed strike UAVs were launched over Ukraine.