A video of Russian President Vladimir Putin ignoring his official motorcade to go for a walk has been viewed millions of times on Facebook alongside claims that it shows his frustration following a recent press briefing related to the Ukraine invasion. However, this is false; the video is from 2013 and was taken after Putin attended the funeral of his long-time judo trainer.
A video of a long train transporting military vehicles has been shared on Facebook alongside a claim that the footage shows the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sending tanks and equipment to Ukraine in support of its war against Russia. But this is false; the video has been circulating online since at least 2012 and shows a Canadian train operating in North America.
A nighttime video of buildings illuminated by ominous flashes of light has been viewed thousands of times globally on social media alongside a claim it shows Russian forces attacking the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. While the southeastern port city has been under heavy attack, the video was shared in a false context. The footage has circulated online months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The social media user who filmed the clip told AFP it shows a thunderstorm in the Russian town of Volzhsk.
A video of heavily damaged buildings has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times online alongside a claim it shows the "situation in Ukraine" as a civilian disaster is growing in the country following Russia's invasion. But the video has been shared in a false context: it shows the aftermath of a cataclysmic port blast in Lebanon that levelled entire neighbourhoods in the capital Beirut in August 2020.
A video of Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing the press has been viewed thousands of times on Facebook posts alongside the claim that he has declared war on African countries - including Kenya and South Sudan - for commenting on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The claim is false; Putin's speech in Russian makes no mention of Africa. The clip was taken from his televised address on February 24, 2022, when he announced Russia's decision to invade Ukraine.
Several supposedly 'live' videos featuring firepower hitting buildings and shooting planes out of the nighttime sky have been shared on Facebook in South Africa with claims that they show Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, this is false: these hours-long videos actually show a military simulation video game called Arma 3.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a video of men in military uniform embracing women was viewed more than 350,000 times in social media posts that claimed it showed Ukrainians saying goodbye to loved ones before going off to fight. In fact, the footage was taken from a documentary about the 2014 conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
As Russian troops invaded Ukraine, a video was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in social media posts that claimed it showed a huge explosion at a power plant in the separatist Luhansk region. While there have been reports of a fire at a power plant in the region, the video has been shared in a false context. It actually shows a deadly blast that ripped through the Chinese port city of Tianjin in 2015.
The video-sharing app TikTok has become a tool in the hybrid war in Ukraine, but fake news and scams connected to the conflict also abound on the platform. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake.
As the civilian death toll mounted in Ukraine following Russia's invasion, a video was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in social media posts that claim it shows a Ukrainian reporter inadvertently exposing fake war casualties in a live broadcast. This is false: the video shows a climate change protest in Austria that was staged weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.