A video compilation that has been circulating since May 3 claims to show that - despite the war - the party is in full swing in Kyiv's nightclubs, taking advantage of foreign donations to Ukraine's war effort. Most of these images date from before the war, however, and some of the establishments where they were filmed have been closed since the conflict began in February 2022.
This isn't accurate. The U.S. banned all imports of Russian oil, natural gas and coal in March 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
A caption on an April 26 viral Facebook video claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin "just SHUTDOWN All Oil To The US, Collapsing The US Economy!"
Oil prices have dropped in recent days, but market experts credit that largely to weak demand and economic jitters over banking. This is the opposite of what would be expected with prices if this claim were accurate.
It's not. This claim is Pants on Fire!
The US delivered to Ukraine sensors that detect a surge of radiation. This is solely caused by Russia's nuclear blackmail, not the Ukrainian army's actions or plans.
An old video of a smoking field of debris has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in Chinese-language social media posts that falsely claim it shows Iranian military aid for Russia blown up by Israel in March 2023. But there is no evidence the event described in the posts actually occurred. The video was in fact shared by an Afghan official in the aftermath of a massive port fire in the country in February 2021.
General Melnyk, who is quoted by Russian media, did not make any statements about the "destruction of the combat-ready part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces". Melnyk spoke about the need to replenish the resources of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Western equipment and new trained personnel for the rotation of Ukrainian soldiers on the front line.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov did not say that surrendering Bakhmut will lead to the collapse of the front to the western borders of Ukraine.
In an interview with the Ukrainian Channel Five television network, former Ukrainian Special Forces Deputy commander Serhiy Kryvonos said that Ukrainians knew how to penetrate into and seize a nuclear power plant in peacetime and therefore, hypothetically, are capable of trying to seize a Russian nuclear plant in response to Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant. Kryvonos was not speaking in any official capacity, he was speaking hypothetically, and his words do not convey any real intent on the part of Ukraine to seize or attack Russian nuclear power stations.
Statements about Ukraine allegedly planning to ban conscripts from enrolling to universities are completely baseless. Currently, there are no such draft laws in Ukraine, and no initiatives of this kind have been proposed by the authorities. In comments for Focus and TSN, lawyers confirmed that such a decision is extremely unlikely as it can be recognized as unconstitutional.
The Kremlin media completely distorted a recent Financial Times article, claiming British experts were predicting a crushing defeat for the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive. The FT did discuss the counteroffensive, but mostly in the context of what difficulties the Ukrainian military will face. The article's conclusion is that if the Ukrainian attack is fast and brutal, then the front line will spread and the Russians will flee, just as they did during the counteroffensive near Kharkiv last year.
Ukrainian soldiers do not use animals to clear mines. On the contrary, servicemen on the front lines are trying to remove abandoned farm animals from areas shelled by Russians.