Latest fact checks & sources

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.

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.

A video has been viewed millions of times in social media posts that claim it shows Russian President Vladimir Putin angrily condemning Danish authorities for “plundering” an Indonesian tanker after it collected oil from Russia. This is false; the footage shows a ship that was blocked off the coast of Denmark in March 2022 by Greenpeace activists who were calling for a ban on the import of fossil fuels from Russia. The clip of Putin was taken from an unrelated speech he gave in March 2021, in which he accused the West of trying to “cancel” Russian culture.

Austria continues to pay for Russian gas only in Euros and strictly adheres to agreed EU sanctons, said Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The politician called the news that Austria paid its Russian gas bill in rubles “another Russian propaganda fake”.

This is not the first time that Russia has put out disinformation about Ukrainian Armed Forces “provocations” and launched an attack immediately after releasing the disinformation. This happened on April 8 when Russia launched a missile attack on a train station in Kramatorsk. At that time several Russian media, particularly RIA Novosti published stories about the “Ukrainian terrorist attack in Kramatorsk” right before Russian missiles hit the Kramatorsk train station. Also, on the eve of the shelling of the railway station, many so-called Z-publics that support Russian aggression against Ukraine wrote that the Russian Armed Forces were firing at “a cluster of Ukrainian Army militants” and “wagons with weapons” at the Kramatorsk railway station. Later, all publications were deleted or edited, but all the evidence and screenshots can be viewed in the article by StopFake journalists “Fake: Ukrainian military struck at the Kramatorsk railway station.”

There is absolutely no evidence that substantiates information disseminated online that Ukraine sold high precision weapons to Islamists under the guise of “surplus”. Lists of military equipment that Ukraine sells abroad are published in the public domain. There are no Javelins on the list.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation which began on February 24, 2022, is a flagrant violation of international law and a naked act of aggression.

There is absolutely no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has a net worth of $850 million. According to several authoritative sources, Zelensky’s combined fortune could amount to some $20-25 million.

The destruction in Bucha due to Russia invading Ukraine has been well-documented through news reports and photos. An image of overturned cars next to a building with intact windows doesn’t disprove that. Photographer Emanuele Satolli, who took photos at the same scene pictured in the Instagram post, told the Greek fact-checking outlet Ellinika Hoaxes that he “met several citizens and everyone told me that the cars had been overturned by Russian tanks.” Plenty of other photos Abd shot in Bucha show shattered windows, rubble from devastated buildings, streets in ruins, and human corpses ‘ all the real toll of a real war. Claims that the war in Ukraine is fake are inaccurate and ridiculous. That’s our definition of Pants on Fire.

Photos of high-ranking Nazi officials are circulating on social media along with the allegation they show the grandfathers of leading politicians such as German chancellor Olaf Scholz. Here is why these claims are false.

Social media posts claim North Korea has decided to send troops to Ukraine to support Russia, citing a report by Russian state media. However, the report makes no mention of North Korea sending troops to Ukraine. There have been no official reports or statements to support the claim, as of April 26. North Korean experts told AFP it was “highly unlikely” that Pyongyang would deploy troops to Ukraine.

An image shared in multiple social media posts in different countries purports to show a genuine tweet from CNN about child soldiers in Ukraine. The claim is false; AFP found no evidence that the tweet was ever published by CNN, and the US broadcaster said it was fabricated. The photo in the posts has circulated online since at least 2018 in reports about Ukrainian children learning battlefield skills at a summer camp, and the photographer told AFP it was “never used” by CNN.

Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine War is not going according to plan, with Ukrainian forces rebuffing attempts to capture Kyiv and forcing a general Russian retreat from the north of the country. Nevertheless, there remains no end in sight to hostilities, with every indication that Moscow is preparing for a long campaign. As the Russian military begins a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin is accelerating efforts to indoctrinate young Russians and consolidate the pro-war consensus on the domestic front for a further generation.

Two viral videos purported to show that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy uses cocaine. One video appeared to show cocaine on Zelenskyy’s desk as he spoke, while the other appeared to show him saying that he uses the drug routinely. The first video was doctored; in the original, there is no white substance on Zelenskyy’s desk. The second video was deceptively edited; in the original, he denied using drugs. Our ruling Two videos claimed to show Zelenskyy either using or admitting to using cocaine. The first video purports to show a white powder on Zelenskyy’s desk as he placed a video call to Musk. But the video was doctored to include the substance, which is not in the original. The second video appears to show Zelenskyy talking about using cocaine regularly, but the video was deceptively edited to reorder Zelenskyy’s words. In reality, Zelenskyy denied using drugs. We rate these videos Pants on Fire!

In recent weeks, people have been sharing at least three videos purporting to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky either using cocaine or making incoherent remarks after allegedly consuming drugs. But these videos have been cut misleadingly and sometimes even digitally manipulated.

A video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in social media posts that claim it is a report from the BBC that states Ukraine was responsible for a deadly missile attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. The British broadcaster’s press team said it did not produce the “fake” video and was “taking action” to get it removed from social media. AFP identified various visual features in the video that indicated it has been fabricated to imitate a report from the BBC.

A video has been viewed millions of times on social media, alongside the claim that it shows the Russian warship Moskva exploding. The claim is false: the video is a clipped and edited version of one that has been circulating online since at least 2013, which shows the Norwegian armed forces using a decommissioned frigate for target practice.

An “order” being circulated online is a fake. Several errors in the document’s wording and style point to the fact that it is not genuine. Desertion as well as voluntary surrender are punishable offense as set forth in Ukraine’s Criminal code. According to Criminal Code Article 430, voluntary surrender due to cowardice is punishable by imprisonment up to seven-ten years.

Photos of the same drone as in the one featured in this fake story were already published a month earlier, including by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels. At that time Russian propagandists claimed the drone was shot down in the city of Klintsy, in the Bryansk region.

One photo shows Ukrainian police and Territorial Defense servicemen moving goods from a bombed Kharkiv shop to a safe location. Video footage shows an ATB supermarket in Kyiv province looted by Russian troops.