Latest fact checks & sources

As the Russian and Ukrainian governments blamed each other for the incident, this footage swept social media under misleading pretenses.

Areas downstream from the Nova Kakhovka Dam, presently in Russian hands, are at risk of extreme flooding following its collapse.

A viral video claims to show the impressive maneuvers of a Russian pilot. The video is actually an extract from a highly realistic combat simulator video game that has been continuously used in fake claims. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

Since May 21, a number of posts online have been claiming that an advertisement posted on the British jobs website Adzuna offers proof that Western countries are recruiting mercenaries in Africa and the Middle East to go and fight in Ukraine. However, we investigated and determined that this post isn’t real.

A video supposedly showed the senator from South Carolina making the statement to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russian authorities attributed a May 30, 2023, drone attack in Moscow to Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has denied direct involvement.

The lesson of the 20th century is that putting “America First” requires us to project strength and deter our enemies from launching wars of aggression — so that U.S. troops to don’t have to fight and die in another global conflagration. The invasion in Ukraine was a failure of deterrence. Only by helping Ukraine win can we prevent further deterrence failures. If we help Ukraine prevail, we can rewrite the narrative of U.S. weakness; restore deterrence with China; strike a blow against the Sino-Russian alliance; decimate the Russian threat to Europe; increase burden-sharing with our allies; improve our military preparedness for other adversaries; stop a global nuclear arms race; dissuade other nuclear states from launching wars of aggression; and make World War III less likely. The “America First” conclusion: Helping Ukraine is a supreme national interest.

According to the Facebook page of the Horodenkivka City Council, Illia Yermolaev died in March 2022 while performing a combat mission. Illia was 20 years old at the time of his death. However, he did not join the army through mobilization, since January 2020 the young man served under a contract.

Various Russian media outlets are spreading claims that a Polish general confirmed the West was preparing to launch a coup in Belarus. But did he? DW finds out more.

Viral photos on social media showed a fake advertisement in the New York City subway system calling for the city’s homeless to join the fight in Ukraine. Vedika Bahl explains this misinformation, in this edition of Truth or Fake.

Reuters reported in April that leaked documents allegedly from U.S. intelligence agencies estimated as many as 354,000 Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have died or been injured in the war. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the documents, and U.S. officials said some files appeared to be altered. The Facebook video’s claim that 1 million Ukrainian soldiers have been “wiped out” is much higher than any official reported estimates. So we rate this claim False.

The Foreign Affairs article does not address a need to plan Ukraine’s future after a failed counteroffensive. This conclusion was fabricated by Russian propagandists. The authors of the article discuss the need for the West to plan long-term support for Ukraine, as there is currently no clear plan for what will happen after the counteroffensive. However, the United States and other European countries have repeatedly stated they will support Ukraine for as long as necessary.

Ukrainian journalists have not published any investigations regarding the ICEYE satellite purchased by the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation through donations from Ukrainians. Satellites for television signal transmission and the ICEYE operate in different orbits and serve different purposes.

Without providing any evidence, anonymous sources are claiming that one third of the Patriot missiles produced annually are being destroyed in Ukraine. There are over 240 Patriot systems in 18 different countries in total (with Ukraine being the 19th), and thousands of missiles with different characteristics are produced for them. This sprint American defense companies have also signed additional contracts with the US Army for the production of Patriot missile systems components.

Russian propaganda is spreading another fake in the form of a “questionnaire” filled with numerous errors and listing military activities which simply do not exist in the Ukrainian military. Children and minors are not involved in Ukraine’s military service in any way. Mobilization is mandatory for individuals aged 18 to 60.

Polish General Waldemar Skrzypczak did not talk about the West supposedly preparing a coup in Belarus. Skrzypczak emphasized that events similar to those that recently took place in the Belgorod region are quite likely to occur in Belarus in the event of a successful advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Polish military officer, it is the citizens of Belarus who may potentially rise against the self-proclaimed regime of President Lukashenko in the future. He stated that Poland should be prepared for this and support a democratic uprising in the neighboring country.

This “letter” has been forged, as evidenced by numerous gross errors in the text and vocabulary not typical of official documents. Specifically, the “letter” incorrectly states the addressee’s official position and the location of the cemetery for victims of World War II, and the surname of the secretary of the Zaporizhia city council is misspelled.

The video was edited. This phrase was assembled from several different answers of Budanov. In an interview for the documentary film “Year” by journalist Dmytro Komarov, published on May 19, 2023, Kyrylo Budanov revealed his plans to travel to Sevastopol after victory. However, he added that the process of reintegrating Ukrainian territories would be lengthy.

For several months, at least six fake anti-Ukraine covers of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo have been circulating online, especially on Russian Telegram channels. Now a fake news report, attributed to French media outlet 20 Minutes, falsely accuses Russian independent journalist Ilya Ber of being behind these Charlie Hebdo covers. We debunk this false news report in this edition of Truth or Fake.

On May 10th, military serviceman Maksyim Alekseev posted on his personal Facebook page about his own wedding. Zaluzhnyi held the ceremony and Maksym expressed gratitude to the Commander-in-Chief. The post is accompanied by a series of photos from the actual wedding ceremony. Alekseev also mentioned that the wedding took place earlier, “not today, not yesterday”.