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.
Fact-checking footage claiming to show recent attack on Russian warship Moskva
The VERIFY team analyzed two videos claiming to show an attack on Russian warship Moskva. Here is how we know those videos weren’t taken in 2022.
Fake: All Ukrainian Refugees Willingly Going to Russia
Citing the Russian Ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova, Russian media are claiming that the Kremlin is not forcefully deporting Ukrainians from territories currently occupied by the invading Russian army. […]
The evacuation of civilians from territories occupied by invading Russian troops has been problematic and raised numerous questions from the very beginning of the war. In parts of Mariupol captured by the Russian forces, many civilians had no choice but to go to territories not controlled by Ukraine or to go to Russia. Many did so under pressure from the Russian military, who forced them to leave their shelters and hiding places and directed them to “filtration camps” for identification and interrogation. Those who passed the filtration were then transported to various Russian regions, those who did not were imprisoned.
Fake: Atrocities in Bucha, Chemical Attack in Syria, and the Work of White Helmets…
Atrocities committed by the Russian military in Bucha, Kyiv region are confirmed not only by Ukrainian authorities but also by governments of other countries and international organizations. Out of 519 cases of reported chemical weapons use in Syria, 349 have been “credibly confirmed”.
No, the BBC didn’t air a video claiming Ukraine bombed one of its own train stations
A video claiming to be a BBC News report suggested Ukraine bombed one of its own train stations. The video was fake and did not come from BBC News.
Senior US military officer was not captured by Russian forces in Ukraine
As Russian strikes pounded the besieged port city of Mariupol in Ukraine, Facebook posts shared in various languages claimed US General Roger L. Cloutier was captured by Russian forces there. However, NATO said the rumour was “completely false” and that Cloutier, who leads NATO’s Allied Land Command, had not been to Ukraine since July 2021. Cloutier was in Turkey when the false claims about his whereabouts circulated online.
Fake: Ukrainian Drones for Spraying Poisonous Substances Found
The drones Russian media are claiming Ukrainian troops use to spray poisons are not combat drones, but rather DJI AGRAs T30 agricultural drones which are used in farmland management.
According to the All Ukrainian Federation of Drone Owners, the drones in the video circulated by the Russian media belong to their client and they were stolen by the Russian military.
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.
FACT CHECK: Did Oprah Winfrey Remove ‘War and Peace’ From Her Book Club Due To Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine? | Check Your Fact
Verdict: False
The person who originally made the claim later said it was satirical. There is no evidence Winfrey announced the bookâs removal.
Disinformation: Russia presented specific evidence to the UN on crimes committed by the Ukrainian authorities against their own citizens in Bucha
Therefore, the Kremlin’s claim that they presented a set of evidence to the UN which proves Ukraine’s crimes in Bucha is fake. That which the Russian Ambassador presented at a special press conference and the UN Security Council are impossible to be considered as “evidence.” Most of them are easily verifiable false claims and the rest is absurd allegations which are not considered as evidence in any format.
Russian TV claimed Ukraine used mannequins to fake war casualties. That video is actually from a TV show set
During a Russia-24 news segment, broadcasters claimed Ukraine was using mannequins to exaggerate the civilian death toll. The clip they shared is from a TV show set.
Fake: Ukraine Refuses to Finance Kharkiv, Kyiv Resigned to Russia’s Occupation of City
Ukraine is not compromising its territorial integrity and sovereignty. The first billion hryvni of financial assistance released for the regions liberated from Russian occupation does not include the Kharkiv region because intensive hostilities are continuing in this northeastern part of Ukraine’s territory. Part of the Kharkiv region is still under Russian occupation. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that after all Ukrainian lands currently occupied by Russian troops are liberated, reconstruction work will begin immediately.
Fake: International Organizations Don’t Want to Investigate Bucha Atrocities
Amnesty International and many international organizations as well as representatives from various countries have expressed the need to investigate war crimes in the Kyiv region committed by Russian troops. Hundreds of journalists from all over the world and EU representatives have visited the towns where the atrocities were committed, international human rights activists, foreign forensics experts and representatives of the International Criminal Court are all collecting evidence of crimes committed.
Slovak Government: Russia’s Claims It Destroyed S-300 Air Defense Systems Supplied to Ukraine is…
Slovakia has refuted Russian claims that S-300 air defense systems it supplied to Ukraine were destroyed.
Fake: Ukrainian Troops Blow Up Nitric Acid Tanks in Rubizhne
Contrary to Russian disinformation reports, the Ukrainian military did not blow up a nitric acid tank in Rubizhne, Luhansk province on April 9. According to Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai, Russian troops had already twice blown up a nitric acid tank in Rubizhne. Blowing up its own chemical storage facility does not give the Ukrainian military any tactical advantage. The Ukrainian army has no plans to abandon its positions and leave Rubizhne.
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.
How Yandex suppresses information for Russian internet users
A report by the Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFRLab) has accused Yandex of succumbing to Russia’s domestic regulations by suppressing Ukraine war information for its users in Russia.
Fake: Serial Number Confirms Kramatorsk Train Station Hit by Ukrainian Tochka U Missile
A serial number is not proof that the Tochka U missile fired on the Kramatorsk train station belongs to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Other objective evidence indicates that the strike was carried out from territory controlled by Russian Federation troops.
Zelensky and Soros Aren’t Cousins, Contrary to Social Media Claim
Conspiracy theories aimed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been circulating on social media since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. One recent example, falsely attributed to a “Pentagon official,” is the unfounded claim that Zelensky is the cousin of billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
Massacre in Bucha: refuting Russian propaganda fakes
Bodies everywhere: on the roads, on the side of the road, and in makeshift mass graves. That’s how you can describe photos and videos from the Ukrainian town of Bucha, located very close to Kyiv. The images were seen by people around the world and shocked many. Russia, which was in control of the town, is trying to prove that its troops had nothing to do with it. They use the usual disinformation tactics: they launch several false theses at once in order to confuse everyone as much as possible.
Euroradio refutes Russian propagandists’ fakes about the massacre in Bucha.
Fact check: Fictional Tucker Carlson quote on Ukraine spreads online
Thousands of social media users shared a made-up quote in which Tucker Carlson appeared to question the authenticity of images from Bucha, Ukraine.




















