Latest fact checks & sources

Misleading Material. The video shared on Twitter is from a Russian parade in 2018. While similar to the tank used in the recent Victory Day parade, it is not the same vehicle. Although we cannot say with certainty that the Victory Day parade tank hasn’t been or won’t be used in the war against Ukraine, there is no evidence to suggest that it or others of the same model will or have been used, least of all because they were manufactured dating to World War II.

Since the Russian invasion in February 2023, the city has been under various levels of curfew.

The April 24 article on the French news Atlantico website does not claim that crime in Eastern Europe has skyrocketed because of Ukraine. The story refers to the so-called Carpathian gray zone, an area used by criminal groups from various countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, to traffic prohibited goods to the EU. According to Xavier Raufer, the article’s author, the increased flow through the Carpathian zone is caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine and its blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, an international legion backing the Kyiv government started an advertising campaign to drum up overseas support and recruit fighters from abroad. However, a fabricated poster shared thousands of times online, allegedly targeting people on welfare in the United States, is not related to this campaign. Ukrainian authorities say the image — which AFP found has several inconsistencies in its formatting — is a forgery.

An old video of a smoking field of debris has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in Chinese-language social media posts that falsely claim it shows Iranian military aid for Russia blown up by Israel in March 2023. But there is no evidence the event described in the posts actually occurred. The video was in fact shared by an Afghan official in the aftermath of a massive port fire in the country in February 2021.

Aviation expert Valery Romanenko did not make such claims during an interview with the NTA TV channel. On the contrary, both Ukraine and foreigners emphasize the effectiveness of Ukrainian air defense increasing significantly since the full-scale war with Russia began (up to 80%).

The US delivered to Ukraine sensors that detect a surge of radiation. This is solely caused by Russia’s nuclear blackmail, not the Ukrainian army’s actions or plans.

This isn’t accurate. The U.S. banned all imports of Russian oil, natural gas and coal in March 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. A caption on an April 26 viral Facebook video claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin “just SHUTDOWN All Oil To The US, Collapsing The US Economy!” Oil prices have dropped in recent days, but market experts credit that largely to weak demand and economic jitters over banking. This is the opposite of what would be expected with prices if this claim were accurate. It’s not. This claim is Pants on Fire!

Videos on social media purportedly showed the Kremlin being attacked and smoke emerging from behind the building.

An image circulating online purports to show a CNN tweet quoting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he plans to change his war-torn nation’s demographics through mass immigration. But the supposed screenshot is fabricated; the global news network published no such post, a spokesperson confirmed to AFP.

The car in question most likely belongs to a Ukrainian businessman and deputy of the Vinnytsia Oblast Council. What also indirectly points to this conclusion is the car’s registration in the city of Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Vinnytsia oblast. The purchase of the Rolls-Royce GHOST with the vehicle registration plate КВ0001ОІ took place on 8 February 2022, meaning it occurred before Andriy Pyshnyy was appointed NBU Governor (and took office in October 2022) and before Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine.

Much has been made of the South African government’s close ties to Russia following news that the country will host Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2023. But images suggesting Putin congratulated former president Jacob Zuma on his birthday – on live TV – are fabricated.

General Melnyk, who is quoted by Russian media, did not make any statements about the “destruction of the combat-ready part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. Melnyk spoke about the need to replenish the resources of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Western equipment and new trained personnel for the rotation of Ukrainian soldiers on the front line.

Misleading Material. While the image in the tweet is a photo of Putin, it has nothing to do with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was taken during a submarine dive off an island in the Gulf of Finland in 2019.

In an interview with the Ukrainian Channel Five television network, former Ukrainian Special Forces Deputy commander Serhiy Kryvonos said that Ukrainians knew how to penetrate into and seize a nuclear power plant in peacetime and therefore, hypothetically, are capable of trying to seize a Russian nuclear plant in response to Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant. Kryvonos was not speaking in any official capacity, he was speaking hypothetically, and his words do not convey any real intent on the part of Ukraine to seize or attack Russian nuclear power stations.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov did not say that surrendering Bakhmut will lead to the collapse of the front to the western borders of Ukraine.

False. Congress has only approved $113 billion for spending in Ukraine. Researchers tracking spending suggest that only around $77 billion has gone directly to Ukraine, a combination of financial, military and other forms of aid. It’s not clear where the $200 billion figure has come from. A Fox News report in February 2023 attributed it to a Ukrainian government statement that Newsweek could not find. Another estimate broadcast on Tucker Carlson Tonight the same month was presented without evidence and upon inspection appears dubious.

In Monday’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated accusations against the US, NATO and Ukraine. DW takes a look at the speech and debunks some of his claims.

Fox News fired its popular host Tucker Carlson within a week of agreeing to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit.

An edited video apparently showing cocaine on the desk of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has circulated on social media around the world. It is the latest in a string of disinformation targeting the leader since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The suspicious, powder-like pile did not appear in the original video posted on Zelensky’s Instagram account.