False and misleading information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine has spread rapidly on social media since Russian forces launched a military assault in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 24.
Here’s a roundup of claims related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict analyzed by the USA TODAY Fact Check team.
There are no U.S.-run biological weapons labs operating in Ukraine.
The U.S. Defense Department and the Ukraine Ministry of Health have had a partnership since 2005 to improve public health laboratories and prevent the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases.
That effort is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which began in 1991 to reduce the threat of existing weapons of mass destruction programs in former Soviet Republics.
Our ruling
A social media user tweeted that Russia was targeting U.S.-run biolabs in its invasion of Ukraine. That account was soon suspended by Twitter.
There are no U.S.-run biolabs in Ukraine. The country is one of many former Soviet Union republics, and other countries, partnering with the Defense Department as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. It's the latest claim in a series of disinformation efforts by the Russians, an expert told PolitiFact.
While the U.S. may provide funding to upgrade or build labs in other countries, the labs are run by the partnering nations and the program's goal is to prevent biological threats, not create them. We rate this claim False.
Putin claims:
“Does Ukraine need to be denazified” - false,
“Is Russia’s attack a defense case under the UN Charter?” - false,
“Was there a ‘genocide” in Ukraine?” - false.
Russia has so far failed to provide any evidence in their claims.
Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign did not report receiving any donations from the Ukrainian government or Ukrainian nationals. Those donations would have been illegal.
A spokesperson for Marjorie Taylor Greene cited a 2015 Wall Street Journal graphic that has been frequently misrepresented online. The chart shows donations to the Clinton Foundation between 1999 and 2014 by the nationality of the individuals who made them; it does not say anything about donations to the foundation by foreign governments.
The Clinton Foundation said it has never received donations from Ukraine's government.
Our ruling
Greene said, "Ukraine was the No. 1 donor to Hillary Clinton when she was running for president."
Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign did not report any donations from Ukraine or Ukrainian nationals ' a move that would have broken the law. Asked for evidence to support Greene's claim, the congresswoman's spokesperson did not cite any campaign donations.
He pointed instead to a Wall Street Journal chart that mapped large individual donations between 1999 and 2014 to the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The chart was a ranking of the top foreign donors by nationality, not contributions from foreign governments.
The Clinton Foundation said it has never received any funding from the Ukrainian government.
We rate Greene's statement False.
Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance said the State Department's focus on transgender rights is inflaming the conflict with Russia in Ukraine.
Russia has placed as many as 150,000 troops near Ukraine's borders.
Russia has said Ukraine's ties to NATO are a key threat to Russia's national security.
Our ruling
Vance said that Biden risks war with Russia because Putin doesn't "believe in transgender rights."
There is a risk of war, but it is because of Russia's focus on Ukraine's ties to the west and the buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine's border.
The State Department noted the threats against transgender people as one issue among many in a report on human rights. It gave much more space to the danger posed by Russia's military policies in its most recent annual threat assessment.
The risk of war in Ukraine is not affected by Putin's attitude toward transgender rights.
We rate this claim Pants on Fire.
Update: This story has been updated to include a response we received from the Vance campaign shortly after initial publication.
Just like on any social media platform, there's a lot of disinformation to be found on TikTok. But whereas Facebook and Twitter have flagged some accounts as potentially biased or untrustworthy, TikTok allows these videos to pop up in people's feeds. This week, Truth or Fake takes a look at a video about Syria doing the rounds on TikTok.
