A video clip of Ukraine's president is going viral, with some on social media claiming Zelenskyy said the U.S. would send soldiers to fight in Ukraine. That's false.
According to social media images, Leopard 2 tanks - recently delivered to Ukraine after weeks of waiting - have been destroyed by Russia's Wagner mercenary group. But Wagner's head Yevgeny Prigozhin has denied the claims, and the images have in fact been around on the internet for a while. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake with Vedika Bahl.
Conservative influencers in the United States are claiming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said America's "sons and daughters" will be obligated to fight and die for his country. This is misleading; Zelensky's full remarks show he was saying Russia might invade a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country if Ukraine loses the war, implicating the alliance's members in a larger conflict.
In the video, President Joe Biden appears to say he's reinstating the draft so the U.S. can help defend Ukraine against Russian forces. The video is a deepfake.
Since the end of 2022, the FRANCE 24 Observers team has seen several similar examples of fake anti-Ukraine advertisements, reportedly on billboards in the United States and Poland. But when we took a closer look, we found some clues that convinced us these ads were fake and that the videos were edited.
According to Ukraine's Air Force, the air raid alert that sounded during
the US President Joe Biden's visit to Kyiv was due to the take-off of in
Belarus of MiG-31K aircraft carrying Russian Kinzhal missiles. The maximum
range of such missiles is more than 2,000 kilometers, which is why air
raids sirens are sounded throughout the country every time Russian planes
carrying those missiles take off.
Social media posts claim a man pictured trailing Volodymyr Zelensky during US President Joe Biden's surprise trip to Kyiv was the Ukrainian leader's secret body double or clone. This is false; other footage of the same moments shows the man is Maksym Donets, Zelensky's bodyguard since 2019.
Images of a Ukrainian soldier on the frontline wearing what seems to be an Islamic State (IS) group badge on his arm have taken the internet by storm. Some users and media outlets claim this is evidence of links between the terrorist group and Ukraine. The soldier himself says differently. We tell you what we know so far in this edition of Truth or Fake, with Vedika Bahl.
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, triggering a ground war, but also an information war online. Since then, the FRANCE 24 Observers team has debunked 115 pieces of fake news shared via online photos and videos. But what are the main themes in these false narratives? What techniques were used to misinform? In this edition of Truth or Fake with Vedika Bahl, we take a look back at one year in fake news.
A video showing hundreds of Russian books being shovelled out of trucks, onto the floor and then packed up has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media. The scene takes place in Ukraine and has sparked comparisons by pro-Russians to Nazi book-burning. Put into context though, it's an unfair comparison. We tell you why in this edition of Truth or Fake.