Gosar referenced a piece that originated as an article published by Russian state media decrying the influence of “Jewish warmongers” in Ukraine.

This claim is inaccurate. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a U.S. Defense Department arm that works to deter attacks and emerging threats, in November 2019 awarded a contract for non-COVID-19 training support in Ukraine, the agency said. An agency spokesperson said the contract’s description was modified in 2020, months after the virus emerged, to focus on COVID-19 research. The Defense Department typically modifies contracts over time to address emerging needs. The Defense Department did not pay for COVID-19 research in Ukraine before the virus emerged. We rate this claim False.

A video circulating on social media shows a poster of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky apparently “snorting” cash donations from passers-by in Milan. But visual clues in the clip, and the complete lack of eye-witnesses, indicate that it is a fake.

Instead of Hungarians, propagandist sources actually wrote about the Rusyns, one of the ethnic groups populating the Eastern Carpathians. However, no such statements were made by either Hungarians or Rusyns. The claims by Petro Getsko, who is wanted internationally for violating Ukrainian territorial integrity, do not represent the position of the Carpathian Rusyns. The ‘Carpatho-Rusyn Nation’ noted that they do not support any of Getko’s appeals and condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

If Russia refuses to voluntarily comply with the Arbitration Tribunal’s decision, Naftohaz has the right to start enforcing it in those states where Russia’s assets are located.

There is no evidence that the wife of the Azov regiment commander Kateryna Prokopenko is engaged in any political activities, especially in Germany. Prokopenko, as the head of the public organization ‘Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders, visited Germany in early April to draw attention to Ukrainian soldiers being released from captivity and pressure international organizations to investigate the terrorist attack in Olenivka. Representatives of the German Foreign Ministry, in turn, promised to help with implementing rehabilitation programs for the families of the soldiers who died in Mariupol and the families of heroes injured in the terrorist attack in Olenivka, as well as soldiers who returned from captivity with amputations. Moreover, Azov is neither neo-Nazi or fascist. It is an old Russian propaganda fake.

Dmytro Kuleba never made such statements. In his comment to Express media, Kuleba noted that the Russian and Belarusian tennis player being admitted to Wimbledon will be a victory for Russian propaganda and a sign of collapsing West.

Easter holidays were not canceled either in Kyiv nor anywhere else in Ukraine. It will be possible to attend a services before 12 midnight or after 5 am. Those who decide to stay for the night service, will not be able to leave the churches until the end of the curfew.

Did Vladimir Putin recently go to South Africa, defying the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court? That’s the claim made by at least two videos that have been shared thousands of times on TikTok and Facebook since late March. This footage, however, is old and doesn’t in any way prove that Putin has recently travelled to South Africa.

Lights, camera, action! A viral video of soldiers falling to the ground from explosions – with cameras present – has fuelled accusations the war in Ukraine is staged. But it’s simply behind-the-scenes footage of a Ukrainian short film. We spoke exclusively to the producer and director in this edition of Truth or Fake with Vedika Bahl.

A recent Facebook post suggests that the video featured in it shows footage of the war in Ukraine but the video in question is from a video game. Searching for the post’s video description turns up a YouTube post from about a year earlier. It has the same description, but identifies the video as being from “Arma 3,” a military simulation game. We rate claims that this clip shows real footage from the war in Ukraine False.

Verdict: False The claim is based on an altered document. The original document shows that the United States allegedly estimated Ukraine has suffered around 15,500 to 17,000 deaths, not 71,000.

Did Ukrainians really set a Russian Orthodox church on fire? A video purporting to show just that has been circulating online since April 5, 2023. However, it turns out that this video was filmed in Russia more than ten years ago and shows an accidental fire.

There is no such law draft on the Ukrainian parliament’s website, nor is there any information about this initiative. The screenshot of the Ukrinform website is fake, as the informational agency did not publish this news either.

In Ukraine, fake news continues to fuel the information war. In recent days, a video purporting to show a Ukrainian Orthodox church on fire has appeared on social media, with captions accusing “radical Ukrainians” of arson. The claims fit neatly into a Russian narrative that accuses Ukrainians of persecuting followers of the Moscow Patriarchate wing of the Church. But as we explain in this edition, the video is bogus.

This information is fake. The White House did not permit Ukraine to strike Russian territory. On the contrary, the White House’s National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby stated that the US does not ‘enable or encourage’ the Ukrainian Forces to strike outside Ukraine and will only assist the Ukrainian Forces in liberating their territories. Moreover, there are no new Russian territories, only the Ukrainian territories illegally occupied and annexed by Russia.

A video circulating online shows the filming of the short feature film ‘Hope’. The behind-the-scenes videos were taken from the TikTok account of the director Artem Kocharyan, who currently lives in Latvia. The film is based on the real story of his Ukraine acquaintance – a pregnant girl who lost her family due to the Russian aggression.

Russian media are circulating a video purporting to show the torching of an Orthodox Church belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate in the Mykolaiv region by Ukrainian “radicals”. The video was actually taken in Russia ten years ago, in 2013.

Miscaptioned. Context: The video being shared was posted on YouTube around 10 years ago and is reportedly of a church being burned in Russia.

Although there was a fire at the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, it was restricted to one small section on the third floor of the building. The fire was said to have spread around 60 square meters. According to news reports it was put out shortly after it was reported.