Latest fact checks & sources

A number of viral posts on social media have claimed that a Canadian sniper, dubbed “the world’s deadliest sniper”, was killed within hours of arriving in Mariupol, Ukraine, where he had gone to fight. However the man, nicknamed Wali, is still alive and well. He told the FRANCE 24 Observers team that he thinks the disinformation around his death serves to dissuade foreign fighters from going to Ukraine.

Multiple social media posts purport to show a photo of a Ukrainian farmer stealing a Russian rocket. However, the image has been doctored. The original photo was taken by NASA in 2018 and shows a rocket towed by a train, not a tractor.

A video of soldiers jumping out of a plane with parachutes has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook in South Africa alongside a claim that it shows US paratroopers joining the war in Ukraine. But this is false: the footage, which has been viewed millions of times, has been online since at least 2016 and features US soldiers performing parachute drills at the Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina.

The aftermath of the attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, was captured on video and in photos showing that it was an actual attack. A Pentagon spokesperson called OAN host Pearson Sharp’s claims “ridiculous.” Several independent experts who spoke to PolitiFact agreed that it was completely without merit. Russian officials have conceded the attack occurred. Our ruling Sharp said the attack on the Mariupol hospital had “the makings of yet another false flag operation” by the U.S. There is no evidence that the attack was staged or a false flag carried out by the U.S. Its aftermath was documented by workers, witnesses and journalists on the ground. We rate OAN’s claim Pants on Fire!

Russia has leaned on claims that Ukraine has killed Russian speakers in the country and that Russians are the targets of genocide there, but there’s no evidence to support that. Ukraine appealed to the U.N.’s International Court of Justice in the Hague to rule on the Russian government’s claims of genocide “in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of Ukraine,” calling them false. The court ruled 13-2 on March 16 that the Kremlin’s justification for the war was unjustified and ordered Russia to stop its invasion. Judges from Russia and China were the two dissenting votes. We rate this post False.

Several videos and photos are circulating online, lending credibility to Russian claims of a serious neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine. The problem here though is that the images and videos are a distortion of reality and, in some cases, completely fictional. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a barrage of false claims on social media, including posts that purport to show a video of “crisis actors” portraying dead victims of the fighting. The video used in the posts is from a climate protest held in Vienna, Austria, weeks before the war in Ukraine began.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene parroted a Russian talking point with her claim that Ukraine is a country whose “government only exists because the Obama State Department helped to overthrow the previous regime.” FactCheck.org presents the history of this Russian propaganda talking point, and explains why it is false.

The claim that a Russian youth was beaten to death by a “mob of Ukrainian refugees” in the German city of Euskirchen was published in a video addressing Russians in Germany. However, the incident never happened.

Several images have been shared repeatedly in social media posts that claim they show a minaret in India’s capital lit up with the colours of the Russian flag to show “support” for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The posts circulated online after a similar tweet was shared by the state-run Chinese tabloid Global Times. The claim is misleading: the Indian government said the building in New Delhi was illuminated as part of a week-long event to promote affordable medicines. Local media reports also said the minaret was illuminated for the pharmaceutical event, not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appeared in several recent videos that show he has remained in the country since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. But a post circulating on Facebook falsely claims he fled and recorded a video using a green screen to make it appear as though he’s still in Ukraine. There’s no evidence to support the claim. A digital forensics expert told us that nothing in the video indicates it was filmed using a green screen.

These images of Ukrainian farmers seizing Russian military equipment with tractors have not been verified, and several of them were digitally altered using photos that predate the 2022 conflict.

The Russian military claimed to have used a hypersonic missile on March 18 to strike an underground warehouse in western Ukraine. Two videos have emerged on social networks claiming to show this attack, but, in fact, they have nothing to do with this event.

As it happens, official United Nations data suggests that the 14,000 casualty figure that Putin has used does not only refer to civilians. During Russia’s 2014-2021 military operations against Ukraine, 14,500 people died in the Donbas war. Of that 14,000, 3,404 were civilians, 4,400 were Ukrainian servicemen and 6,500 were Russian militants. The figure Putin operates with, is the total number of casualties incurred in the Donbas war by both sides.

Social media posts claim Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said during a General Assembly session that former US president Donald Trump was “overthrown.” But diplomat Vassily Nebenzia’s full remarks make clear he was referring to the revolution that toppled Ukraine’s president in February 2014, not Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat.

Social media posts claim that the avenue outside the Russian consulate in Montreal was renamed for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support for the country after it was invaded by Russia. This is false; the Avenue Zelensky sign pictured in the posts was installed during the filming of a satirical television program, and the city told AFP that the name of the street remains unchanged.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has restricted dissenting voices, independent news reporting and public discourse on social media platforms. A new law in Russia threatens up to 15 years of prison time for spreading information about the war that authorities consider to be “false.” There are no parallels in the U.S., where freedom of speech, expression and the press are safeguarded by the Constitution. Gabbard alleged censorship by social media companies, but experts say those claims are not supported by evidence. Our ruling Gabbard said, “What is happening here is not so different from what we’re seeing happening in Russia, where you have got state TV and controlled messaging across the board.” Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia ‘ a country with a long history of suppressing free speech and access to information ‘ has restricted dissenting voices, independent news reporting and public discourse on social media platforms, including with a new law threatening prison time for spreading “false” information about the war. Those measures are without parallel in the U.S., where freedom of speech, expression and the press are enshrined in the Constitution. We rate Gabbard’s claim Pants on Fire!

A viral photo of a helicopter airlifting a tractor predates Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. An Indian tractor manufacturer posted it on Twitter in November 2020. The helicopter in the photo is labeled “Indian Air Force.” India is not a member of NATO.

This claim originated in an article published by a website known for sharing misinformation, including one previous false claim on Ukraine. • Russia’s president stated many reasons for the invasion. Ending child trafficking was not among them. • According to the U.S. State Department, Russia is failing to deal with human trafficking within its own borders. Our ruling A post on Facebook alleged that Russia started its invasion of Ukraine to fight child trafficking. The claim originates in an article published by a website known for fabricating stories and sources. There is no evidence that ending child trafficking is a goal of the war in Ukraine. Russia itself is failing to deal with human trafficking within its own borders, according to a report by the U.S. State Department. And while Putin has been very descriptive about his reasons for invading Ukraine, child trafficking has never been mentioned. We rate the post False.

Clinton has not been indicted on any charges stemming from alleged spying on Trump. This claim is another dramatic oversimplification of a recent legal filing by Special Counsel John Durham.