Latest fact checks & sources

By Zviad Adzinbaia, for CEPA Russia’s failed invasion of Ukraine can pave the way to ending the Kremlin’s weaponized disinformation against the West. Twitter limited more than 300 Russian government accounts last month, including that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The move followed the European Union’s (EU) 27 February ban on Russia’s two state-run propaganda outlets, RT and Sputnik, three days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Meta followed by “restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU.” These measures set a precedent to clear Russia’s disinformation networks from Western media and social media space.

In order to crack down on smuggling routes across the English Channel, the UK may deport to Rwanda those who entered the country illegally, failed UK security checks or made unnecessary secondary movements from countries deemed safe. Currently, there are two safe and legal routes in the UK for Ukrainian refugees to enter the country – the Ukraine family scheme and the Homes for Ukraine program.

Germany is not conducting any kind of selection of Ukrainian refugees. Germany continues to receive all refugees from Ukraine. Ukrainians do not have to apply for asylum, they are granted temporary protection status which includes all social benefits provided for in Germany’s Residence Law Article 24. Once registered with the authorities, these protections are valid for one year and may be extended for up to three years.

Despite jitters over the Ukraine war in many countries and Finland’s decision to seek NATO membership, tanks have not been sent to the Finnish border with Russia, despite a viral video suggesting just that. We also look at false claims surrounding a recent protest in Paris.

We take a look at reports that a retired Canadian lieutenant general was captured by Russian forces at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Ukraine. Also, does the Rothschild family banking dynasty own Reuters news agency? (Short answer: no!)

Verdict: False The footage is from a military-based video game. It does not show a genuine Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian warship.

A nuclear threat from Ukraine? A Ukrainian invasion of Crimea? Ukrainian neo-Nazis? Russian President Vladimir Putin’s May 9 speech contained new and familiar accusations amid the war in Ukraine. Most of them are false.

Russian media is manipulating a Reuters global foreign currency exchange rate graphic to claim that the ruble has become the strongest currency in the world. The graphic does not indicate the world’s strongest currencies, but only notes their rise and fall against the US dollar since the beginning of 2022. The first place on this chart is not occupied by the ruble, but by the Brazilian real.

After Russia pressed on with its invasion of Ukraine, a video surfaced in social media posts in various languages claiming it shows a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian tanks. But the footage — which has been viewed tens of thousands of times — has been shared in a false context. It has circulated since March 2020 in reports about a Turkish drone assault on Syrian forces.

Social media posts claim a photo shows cars damaged by a Russian bomb near a building with intact windows in Bucha, suggesting it proves violence in the Ukrainian town was staged. But there is no evidence of a strike near the building, and residents said military vehicles were used to upend the cars — accounts confirmed by media reports and other images from the town.

• There are no credible government or media reports that indicate the Starlink satellite service was used to facilitate the attack on the Russian ship Moskva. • The Russian government did not order the destruction of the Starlink satellite service. That claim originated on a fraudulent website falsely identifying itself as the official website of a Russian political party. Our ruling A Facebook post says, “Space X’s Starlink internet constellation has angered Russia as it was reported that the Starlink satellite constellation was used to guide the fire” on the Russian ship Moskva. But there are no credible government or media reports that indicate the Starlink service was involved in the attack on Moskva. The claim that a Russian official ordered the destruction of the Starlink satellite service originated on a fraudulent website. We rate this claim False.

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”?

Ukraine’s intelligence services never published any such document. The “order” is a fake. Poland’s Armed Forces High Command confirms this is a fake, as does a detailed analysis of the document image.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.