Latest fact checks & sources

A new hoax has been targeting Ukrainian refugees. These two men covered in Nazi tattoos, wearing beach shorts, have been presented as Ukrainian refugees in Croatia by pro-Russian Twitter accounts. In reality, the images show Hungarian members of a neo-Nazi group.

Russian claims that the US Embassy in Ukraine has evacuated its staff and ceased working is not true. Both the embassy and its consulates continue working. Claims that the Odesa consulate has closed are completely ridiculous, as that particular office closed four years ago in 1918.

A video of a railway track being removed has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times after it circulated in posts that claim it shows Lithuania cutting off transit with a Russian exclave after the EU sanctioned certain goods in response to Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022. Although Lithuania did follow the EU sanctions in blocking certain goods to Kaliningrad, the video has been shared in a false context. It was uploaded in a 2017 post about railway repairs in Estonia, years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Keyword searches found no official reports about Lithuania removing the railway track.

Starting in August, Ukrainians who were granted asylum in Poland will be able to process identification cards through the foreign division of Ukraine’s State Migration Service. The Polish government has absolutely nothing to do with this new program.

To strengthen border security in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on July 11 the EU launched a Support Hub for internal security and border management in Moldova. Neither the program nor the announcement mention Ukraine reselling western weapons or being involved in drug trafficking.

A Swiss land registry official said that documents claiming to show purchases of luxury properties by Ukrainian officials are forged. The documents contain errors, such as the wrong digit count in numbers identifying the property. A Swiss newspaper said the false claims were the work of a blogger loyal to the Kremlin. Our ruling A website claimed that three high-ranking Ukrainian officials had purchased luxury property in the resort town of Gstaad, Switzerland. A Swiss land registry official said the documents cited as evidence were forged; errors in them prove that they did not come from the registry, the official said. We rate this claim False.

News sites have taken recent polling data about Ukrainian refugees in Poland and distorted the findings to form a completely wrong conclusion. Among the surveys conducted of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, only 17% said they plan to stay in Poland.

Social media posts share an image that purportedly shows Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky riding a horse made of banknotes on the cover of Money, a US magazine. But no such cover was published; the image was altered from a 2016 issue, according to the magazine, which is now only available online.

Ukrainian refugees are accused by Russian social media users of mowing a huge swastika into a field in Brandenburg, Germany. These accusations are unfounded. According to German media, the Nazi symbol, which has been banned in Germany since the end of WWII, could have been made by a local villager.

Jens Stoltenberg has never said anything about any eight-year preparation for war with Russia, nor about NATO’s plans to “attack” Russia. The NATO Secretary General talked about the foundations of European security, which the Kremlin undermined in 2014 by occupying Ukrainian Crimea and seizing parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Thousands of Ukrainians have been killed in Russian rocket attacks since February 24. Still, Vladimir Putin claims his soldiers don’t attack civilian targets. The facts show quite the opposite.

The Politico newspaper, which Russian media claims published a story about an imminent peace treaty between the West and the Russian Federation, does not have a single article on this topic. Quite the contrary, the publication quotes many Western politicians who say that the United States and the European Union are committed to long-term support for Ukraine and do not see a possible to end the war in the near future.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claims its troops destroyed Ukrainian servicemen who raised the Ukrainian flag on strategic Snake Island after Russian forces withdrew. The Ukraine’s General Staff says the troops completed their task and returned to their base unharmed.

French far-right MEP Thierry Mariani, known for his pro-Kremlin views and visit to Russian occupied Crimea, said he doubts Ukraine is capable of paying off its debt. His views are his own and do not reflect the position of the European Parliament and the European Union. The EU continues to provide assistance to Ukraine, through grants that do not need to be repaid and loans provided on very favorable terms.

Kharkiv regional authorities have never expressed a desire for the region to become part of Russia, contrary to Russian occupying official’s claims. Appointed by the Russian authorities as the so-called “head of the temporary civil administration of Kharkiv province,” Vitaly Ganchev is accused of treason and collaboration by Ukraine. A recent poll by the reputable Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 82% of Ukrainians living under temporary Russian occupation, have a negative attitude towards Russia, and 77% believe that under no circumstances should Ukraine cede any territory.

Georgian National Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili and his fighters refute Russian claims that the legion was destroyed by Russian forces. Legion members say this is yet another Kremlin disinformation campaign against Georgian fighters who, together with Ukraine’s Armed Forces, are fighting against Russian aggression. Neither the Ukrainian military nor anyone else has confirmed the Legion’s alleged demise.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claims to have shot down more planes and helicopters than Ukraine ever had. According to official data, all branches of Ukraine’s Armed forces combined were armed with a much smaller number of aircraft than what the Russians claim to have shot down.

Kissinger did not suggest that Ukraine cede territory to Russia. He argued that in order to start peace negotiations with Ukraine, Russia must return to the positions that existed before the war began on February 24, 2022.

A fire broke out on the roof of a Russian skyscraper, according to state news, and was extinguished with minimal damage. We found no evidence to support the suggestion that the incident is connected to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. A Polish news organization, also citing the Tass agency, said “the fire affected one square meter of space.” We didn’t see any credible reports tying the fire to a Ukrainian attack, or any attack. We rate this post False.

A video has been viewed tens of thousands of times in multiple social media posts that claim it shows Russia attacking Ukraine with a vacuum bomb in 2022. The claim, however, is false. Although Russia has been accused of using such weapons in Ukraine, the video in fact is a digital creation of a visual effects artist.