Latest fact checks & sources

A post shared on X, formerly Twitter, claims BBC News published a video about Bellingcat researchers reporting that former Ukrainian official Alexey Arestovich spent $500,000 on private flights. Verdict: False There is no evidence for this claim. BBC News and Bellingcat both denied they made any such report’

This is not true. Opinion polls conducted in September-October 2023 show that the majority of citizens are against holding elections during wartime. Zelenskyi also stated that partners are not currently insisting on negotiations with Russia, but there are a few voices that consistently call for it.

Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarizing political content in an apparent effort to divide the U.S. ahead of next year’s elections, Meta said Thursday.

The Ruling: False. Volodymyr Zelensky has not bought a $48.9 million yacht, as confirmed by the broker handling its sale. There is no evidence a similar purchase has been made elsewhere. Funding to Ukraine is heavily audited and itemized, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for Zelensky to make such a purchase using U.S. contributions.

Due to Russian aggression and occupiers’ attacks on civilian infrastructure, only a third of Ukrainian schoolchildren have the opportunity to study full-time in a face-to-face format. More than 4,100 schools in Ukraine have been destroyed or damaged. That is why Ukrainian schools practice mixed methods – online and offline – in safe shelters underground.

Verdict: Misleading While Ka-52 losses have been heavy, they are still being used in action, according to multiple experts and analysts.

As of November 25, Poland has not announced that payments to Ukrainian refugees will be suspended from January 1, 2024. The screenshot, which propaganda alleges to originate from the Polish government website, was edited.

Public opinion polls in Ukraine show that the vast majority of Ukrainians still consider any territorial concessions to Russia unacceptable.

There is no information about who the man in the video is, neither what unit he is from nor his rank, which makes it impossible to verify what he is saying. The press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine denied this information, saying that the fake was designed to “negatively affect the situation.”

Propagandists have significantly distorted the article in The Telegraph. On the contrary, the author believes that such statements lack logic. The Telegraph article states that for a successful advance, the Ukrainian military needs not only Western tanks, but also complete air dominance, the latest military technology, and complete freedom of action, including in enemy territory. The author of The Telegraph calls on the West not to reduce the intensity of military assistance to Ukraine, and moreover, to provide Ukraine with the necessary amount of modern precision strike weapons (ATACMS, F-16 fighters, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Munition (JASSM), etc.).

A video shared online shows a protest action that took place on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv on October 1, 2019. The protesters were opposed to the then current policy of resolving the war in eastern Ukraine, namely, the implementation of the Minsk agreements under the Steinmeier formula.

A fake story based on a Russian propaganda narrative about the Black Sea from nearly ten years ago is once again making the rounds on social media.

The owner of the billboard, Clear Channel Outdoors, told Reuters that the ad in the video is fake.

New York City billboard ad showing ‘Stand with Israel’ replacing Ukraine is fake A video claiming to show a pro-Israel ad replaced a pro-Ukraine ad on a New York City digital billboard is fabricated and didn’t appear there, the company that owns the billboard said.

April 5 (Reuters) – Satellite images taken weeks ago of the town of Bucha in Ukraine show bodies of civilians on a street, a private U.S. company said, undercutting the Russian government’s claims that Ukrainian forces caused the deaths or that the scene was staged. Maxar Technologies provided nine images taken of Bucha on March 18, 19 and 31 to Reuters. At least four of the images appear to show bodies on one of the town’s roads, Yablonska Street. The city was occupied by Russian forces until about March 30.

CLAIM: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has called on Ukraine to surrender to Russia. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The 31-nation alliance has made no such call. The organization in a statement pointed to comments its secretary general made this week stressing that NATO remains committed to supporting Ukraine and that any decision to negotiate peace would be up to the Eastern European nation.

A video spread across social media purports to show an animated digital billboard in New York City with the slogan “Stand With Israel” pushing aside the words “Stand With Ukraine” in November 2023. But the clip is doctored, the latest in a wave of disinformation about the conflicts involving the two countries; the company that owns the sign said it has run no such message, and images AFP and others captured of the display show an advertisement for a movie.

Verdict: False There is no evidence that the Washington Post published this article. A Washington Post spokesperson denied the claim.

The video report spreading online is fake, and the story about the Ukrainian scammers is itself made up. The Times of Israel did not publish such information on its website or its social networks.

The pro-Kremlin media took Josep Borrell’s quote out of context. In fact, the diplomat had no doubts about the prospect of the war ending in Ukraine’s favor and did not admit Russia’s victory over the Ukrainian forces.