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: Ukraine deliberately does not declare a state of war to avoid mobilizing deputies and civil servants
Declaring a state of war does not involve mobilizing deputies, officials, or other mentioned measures
FACT CHECK: Video Claims To Show Ukrainian Drone Attack On Russian Factory | Check Your Fact
The video was taken in 2018 and has nothing to do with the Russian invasion
of Ukraine
FAKE: In 2023, Ukraine paid over $1.2 billion to British PR companies to create fakes about the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Neither BBC News nor Bellingcat published this information. The video was edited using footage available in the public domain, and there are errors in the video’s text.
FACT CHECK: No, Biden Is Not Sending U.S. Troops To Fight Russia
A White House spokesperson said the claim is false in an email to Check Your Fact.
FACT CHECK: No, Video Of Man Dancing In Red Outfit Is Not Volodymyr Zelenskyy | Check Your Fact
The video has been digitally altered to put Zelenskyy’s face on someone
else’s body.
FACT CHECK: Facebook Post Makes False Claim About Putin, ‘Illegal Chinese Immigrants’ | Check Your Fact
The video, originally posted on Douyin on Dec. 29, shows travelers going
through customs at a Russian airport ahead of New Year’s
FACT CHECK: Post Claims To Show Letter From Vladimir Putin | Check Your Fact
There is no evidence Putin released or wrote this letter
FACT CHECK: Viral Video Shows Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Belly Dance? – YouTube
A social media post claims that an accompanying video shows a belly dance performed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We check the veracity of the claim in this video.
[Verdict: False. The video is a deep fake.]
Russian fake news: Ukrainians allegedly disconnected from public utilities for not appearing in military commissariat
In a commentary to Ukrinform, the representative of Rivne Regional State Administration confirmed that the above ‘announcement’ was another fake story.
By spreading fake narratives, Russian propagandists pursue two objectives at once. Firstly, they make attempts to sow panic within Ukraine against the background of the adoption of a decision on the draft bill on mobilization.
Secondly, they try to discredit Ukraine’s military and political leadership before international partners, as if the Ukrainian authorities were conscripting citizens against the law, allegedly shutting them out even in routine matters.
Fact Check: Video doesn’t show migrants fleeing Russia after Putin citizenship offer | Reuters
Posts on social media shared the video suggesting migrants were fleeing so as not to be sent to the warfront. A post on social media platform X reads, “Putin threatened to send all illegal Chinese immigrants to the front lines in Ukraine. Airports saw a sudden rush of flights back to China.” Screenshots from the video were also shared on Facebook.
The video, however, can be traced back to at least Dec. 30, 2023, when it was posted on Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok, as showing people traveling from Russia for New Year. The same user says in the description of a different video of the same location that it shows Heihe river port in China.
Fact Check: Orban Did NOT Tell Zelenskyy In Argentina: ‘Putin Knows Something Special About Me’ | Lead Stories
Did Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the inauguration of Javier Milei as Argentina’s new president, that Russian President Vladimir Putin knew something “special” about him? No, that’s not true: Orban and Zelenskyy exchanged a few words in front of cameras during the ceremony, as shown by footage shared by major international media. Their conversation, though, cannot be heard. According to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s press office and a post on X by Zelenskyy, the two leaders discussed European affairs. […]
The video is dubbed: The words spoken in the TikTok audio don’t match the movement of Orban’s lips as shown in the footage.
Viral Video Showing Zelensky Belly Dancing Is Actually A Deepfake
Claim: A video shows President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, belly dancing at an event.
Fact: The footage has been digitally altered. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s face has been superimposed onto the dancer’s face using Deepfake technology.
Fact Check: German magazine Titanic ‘s cover on celebrating Christmas in Ukraine is fake | Reuters
German satirical magazine Titanic did not publish a Christmas-themed cover depicting the severed legs of four Ukrainian soldiers hanging over a fireplace, and an image of this circulating online is fake, the editor-in-chief of the publication said to Reuters. […]
VERDICT: False. No such cover was published by German satirical magazine Titanic.
Lloyd Austin was not killed in Ukraine on Jan. 3 | Fact check
The claim: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was killed in Ukraine on Jan. 3.
Our rating: False
Austin is alive. […] Austin resumed his full duties as secretary of defense on Jan. 5 and released a statement on Jan. 6. The report comes from a publication that routinely publishes fabricated stories.
Fact Check: DeSantis on aid to Ukraine
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued against further US funding for Ukraine by saying that “tens of billions of dollars” have been used “to pay salaries for Ukrainian government bureaucrats,” and that US taxpayers have “paid pensions for Ukrainian retirees.”
Facts First: This needs context. […]
The money, which is disbursed through the World Bank, has gone to pay “wages for hospital workers, government employees, and teachers as well as social assistance for the elderly and vulnerable.” […] It has also been provided to the Ukrainian government to “supply emergency services for internally displaced persons.”
Fact Check: Haley’s math comparing clean energy tax credits to national security
Making a point about spending on national security, Haley said that the US supporting Ukraine, Israel and securing the southern border would cost “less than 20% of Biden’s green subsidies.”
Facts First: This math from Haley is largely true.
Fact Check: Video does not show Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy belly dancing | Reuters
A clip of a man belly dancing in a red costume has been digitally altered to make it appear as if the dancer is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to the man who is featured in the original clip and experts who said the altered version shows signs of being a deepfake.
Fact Check: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Was NOT Killed In Kyiv On January 3, 2024 | Lead Stories
Was Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin killed by Russian cruise missiles in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 3, 2024? No, that’s not true: A Pentagon duty officer confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is false. On January 1, 2024, Austin was hospitalized in Washington, D.C., due to complications from surgery and remained there as of January 10, 2024. Also, this claim is from a website that regularly publishes fabricated content often mistaken for real news.
Video depicting Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s belly dance is a deep fake
Claim: Video depicts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy dancing at an event.
Fact: The viral video has been created using deepfake technology and the original video shows an unidentified man dancing. This video is being shared on social media since the year 2020. However, it is not known when and where this video was taken. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
FACT CHECK: Facebook Post Falsely Claims Lloyd Austin Was Killed In Ukraine | Check Your Fact
The claim stems from a Jan. 7 article published by the satire site, ‘Real
Raw News.’