Fact Check: The ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ fighter pilot
The Ukrainian fighter pilot, celebrated on social media as a war hero, was said to have shot down several Russian aircraft - and has now died. But what's the truth behind the myth of the "Ghost of Kyiv"?
Source type Fact check / debunking
Read MoreFact Check: The ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ fighter pilot
No proof that Ukraine President Zelenskyy owns a $35 million home in Florida I
There is no proof that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy owns a $35 million home in Florida.
The claim originated from a source that appears to be backed by the Russian government.
The Pandora Papers leak did show Zelenskyy owned several offshore companies and other assets, but nothing that could corroborate the claim made on social media.
Our ruling
A now-deleted Facebook post shared the claim that Ukraine President Zelenskyy owned a $35 million home in Florida among several other assets.
The claim appears to have originated from a Russian-backed source, and no other corroborating evidence for the claim could be found.
While leaked financial documents showed Zelenskyy owned several offshore companies and other assets like cars and property, they made no mention of a Florida home.
We rate this claim False.
Images of Ukrainian flag being replaced with Soviet Union flag are from 2015, not 2022
Iterations of the collage have been online since at least 2015 and appear to be screenshots of a video that shows pro-Russian forces taking control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve. It's unrelated to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The photos are real, but they're outdated and do not appear to have been taken in Mariupol. The social media posts were miscaptioned.
Our ruling
A collage shared online claims to show Russian forces replacing the Ukrainian flag with the Soviet Flag in Mariupol in 2022.
Iterations of the collage have been online since at least 2015 and appear to feature screenshots of a video that shows pro-Russian forces taking control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve.
It's unrelated to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
We rate this False.
FACT CHECK: No, The Rothschild Family Does Not Own Reuters And The Associated Press | Check Your Fact
Verdict: False
There is no evidence the Rothschild family owns Reuters or AP. Reuters is owned by the Thomson Corporation and the AP is a non-profit cooperative formed by various newspapers and broadcasters.
Disinfo: Zelenskyy is only a marketing operation, a Jewish face for a Nazi regime
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been actively used by the pro-Kremlin outlets for years to denigrate Ukraine.
In 2015 Ukraine issued a ban on Nazi and Communist ideologies. The far-right groups had a limited presence during the Euromaidan protests and have suffered defeats in every national election since, with a united front of all radical right-wing parties in the 2019 parliamentary elections winning only 2.15% of the vote falling far short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
Fake: Crimean Tatars Unanimously Support Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine
Crimean Tatars are Ukraine's indigenous people, they support Ukraine's territorial integrity and categorically oppose the Russian war. In temporarily occupied Crimea, Russian security forces continue pursuing a policy of repression against the Crimean Tatars, massively imprisoning them for supporting Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s daughter did not ‘flee’ to Poland
Posts on social media had claimed that Oleksandra Zelenska, the daughter of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called her father a "Nazi" and "fled" Ukraine. DW fact-checked the posts and found them to be bogus.
Video of mannequin shows TV drama, not Ukraine ‘faking dead bodies’ in Bucha
Footage of two men handling a mannequin is circulating in social media posts that claim it shows a "prop" passed off as a dead body in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where dozens of corpses were discovered in April after Russian forces retreated. In fact, the video -- viewed hundreds of thousands of times -- was not filmed in Bucha. It was recorded for a Russian TV drama in Vsevolozhsk near Saint Petersburg on March 20, 2022.
Operation May 9. How Soviet Fakes and Propaganda Became the Source of a New…
May 9 - Victory Day - "the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" was never simply a commemorative holiday, it has always been an important ideological instrument. From its inception, this holiday has been a deep and profound manifestation of state propaganda. However, the kind of metamorphosis regarding World War II that has taken place in today's Russia, could not have been foreseen even by Stalin.
This video does not show dead Russian soldiers being honoured in 2022, it is from Ukraine in 2015
In the days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a video circulated online alongside the claim it showed Russian civilians honouring their soldiers killed in the conflict. However, the claim is false. The video is clipped from one posted in 2015, which says it shows Ukrainians paying their respects to soldiers who died fighting in the country's eastern Donbas region in 2015.