Verdict: False
The video was created by the non-partisan anti-corruption organization, RepresentUs. A spokesperson for the organization confirmed the footage of Putin included in the video was not real.
This claim is inaccurate. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a U.S. Defense Department arm that works to deter attacks and emerging threats, in November 2019 awarded a contract for non-COVID-19 training support in Ukraine, the agency said.
An agency spokesperson said the contract's description was modified in 2020, months after the virus emerged, to focus on COVID-19 research. The Defense Department typically modifies contracts over time to address emerging needs.
The Defense Department did not pay for COVID-19 research in Ukraine before the virus emerged. We rate this claim False.
Did Vladimir Putin recently go to South Africa, defying the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court? That's the claim made by at least two videos that have been shared thousands of times on TikTok and Facebook since late March. This footage, however, is old and doesn't in any way prove that Putin has recently travelled to South Africa.
A cache of documents that first appeared on the Discord server "Thug Shaker Central" appeared to contain genuine intelligence files.
Verdict: False
The claim is based on an altered document. The original document shows that the United States allegedly estimated Ukraine has suffered around 15,500 to 17,000 deaths, not 71,000.
Russia is taking its turn in a rotating leadership position within the U.N. That doesn't mean Putin is now president of the organization.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not say this. During a February press conference, Zelenskyy predicted that if Ukraine loses the war, Russia will then invade a country that's a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member, forcing the U.S. to defend its allies.
Ukraine borders four NATO member countries, but it is not part of the military alliance.
Their ruling:
Greene claimed that Zelenskyy said he wants America's "sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine."
Zelenskyy did not say that.
During a press conference, he predicted that if Ukraine loses the war, Russia will invade a NATO member country next. If that happens, Zelenskyy said, Americans would be required to "send their sons and daughters" to war because of NATO's mutual defense treaty.
He did not mention U.S. troops going to Ukraine.
We rate this claim False.
A video clip of Ukraine's president is going viral, with some on social media claiming Zelenskyy said the U.S. would send soldiers to fight in Ukraine. That's false.
There are a number of misleading elements to this tweet. Firstly, the video is not a "confession" at all. It is footage from an interview with Russian state-funded broadcaster RT. [...]
The tweet did not provide the necessary context for readers to be able to judge the significance of the footage, which only contained the opinions of a retired state senator.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted that if Russia’s invasion of his country is successful, it will invade nearby NATO countries, triggering a war involving the U.S. military. Some conservative commentators misleadingly claimed that he’d called upon the U.S. to “send their sons and daughters to war for Ukraine and potentially die.”