The media space, especially social media platforms, has been inundated with claims that the current spread of monkeypox was linked to at least four United States biological laboratories in Nigeria.
A claim that NATO has sent fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country fight invading Russian forces was shared by multiple social media posts in August 2022. The claim, however, is false. While there was a proposal in March to supply Ukraine with Soviet-era jets through a US air base, Washington rejected the idea over fears it could escalate the conflict. Separately, NATO's press office told AFP that the claim was "not accurate".
Verdict: False
There is no evidence of the purported claim on either the U.S. Department of Defenseâs website or SpaceXâs website. Musk has also never publicly mentioned any such joint project with the U.S. military.
A phone call recording from 2016 between then-Vice President Joe Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was leaked in 2020, but as it recirculates in 2022, it's wrongly being used to claim Biden threatened to kill the former head of state.
Biden, among other presidents, has used the term "physical security" regularly. In August, for example, Biden talked in a speech to the Democratic National Committee about the United States' need to plan its direction wisely to ensure "economic, political and physical security." As in the leaked phone call, Biden, speaking June 30 at a press conference in Madrid after a NATO summit, tied funding from the U.S. to aid Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion to the country's physical security.
"But for it to end, they have to be in a position where … the Ukrainians have all that they can reasonably expect, we can reasonably expect to get to them, in order to … provide for their physical security and their defenses," he said.
We rate claims Biden threatened to assassinate a former Ukrainian president Pants on Fire!
U.S. Army members aren't in Ukraine, according to the Department of Defense.
The Pentagon relocated National Guard members in February who were training Ukrainian military members in February.
There were 160 Florida National Guard troops training Ukraine's military when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin temporarily relocated them to Europe in February. And 3,000 more American troops from the 82nd Airborne were also deployed to Europe from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The National Guard has continued to support Ukrainian soldiers remotely, according to the Army. For example, a June article on the Army's website shares how a Ukrainian soldier called a member of the Washington Army National Guard for help with a failed anti-tank missile.
But we rate claims that U.S. Army forces are stationed in Ukraine False.
A Russian court sentenced Brittney Griner, a basketball star from the US, to nine years in prison for bringing a small amount of marijuana into the country. By contrast, US teenager Audrey Lorber was given a slap on the wrist for a slightly more serious case of the same crime.
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.
Verdict: False
There is no evidence to suggest the organization is planning to remove any members. Representatives for the Pentagon and NATO confirmed the claim is false.
The United States government didn't admit that there are 46 U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
The document referenced by far-right and socialist websites repeats known information about 46 Ukrainian-owned and -operated laboratories, health facilities and diagnostic sites that have received support from the U.S.
The government fact sheet specifically states that Ukraine "has no nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons programs."
Our ruling
A Gateway Pundit article said, "US Department of Defense Finally Comes Clean - Admits in Public Document that There Are 46 US Military-Funded Biolabs in Ukraine."
There was no "coming clean" ' and the government made no such admission.
The document referenced in the stories repeated known information about 46 Ukrainian-owned-and-operated laboratories, health facilities and diagnostic sites that have received support from the U.S. The document specifically states that Ukraine "has no nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons programs."
We rate this claim False.
Online articles and social media posts claim US-funded labs in Ukraine are developing biological warfare weapons, saying this is part of the justification for the Russian attack on its eastern European neighbor. But former US officials and non-proliferation experts say the labs are working to detect and prevent the spread of bioweapons, and have also helped in containing disease outbreaks.