The commemorative coins honoring Volodymyr Zelenskyy were created for sale by a private company called the White House Gift Shop, not the U.S. government.
Social media users are falsely claiming that the Biden White House created special coins honoring Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite what the posts suggest, the commemorative coins were created by a private company, not President Joe Biden's White House.
The nonprofit White House Historical Association ' which runs two retail shops located near the White House in Washington, including one at the White House Visitor Center ' confirmed to PolitiFact that its stores are not selling the commemorative Zelenskyy coins. There is no mention of the coins on the White House's official government website, either.
We rate this Facebook post False.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was not responsible for the nationalization of the Russian centralized bank, which took place in 1917.
• The Rothschild family banking business has had an office in Russia since the 1990s, but it has no oversight over the country's currency or monetary policies, which are controlled by the Bank of Russia.
• The Rothschild family long has been the target of conspiracy theories, and their wealth is believed to be responsible for inspiring the anti-Semitic trope that Jewish people "control" the world's money.
Our ruling
A Facebook post says Putin "ended the Rothschild's control over Russia by nationalizing the Russian centralized bank."
Putin did not nationalize the Russian centralized bank; that occurred in 1917.
Evidence does not support the claim that the Rothschild family had control over Russia. The family's banking business has had an office in Russia since the 1990s ' though it recently suspended operations ' but it has no oversight over the country's currency or monetary policies, which are controlled by the Bank of Russia.
We rate this claim False.
An image of Russians forming the number 55 to celebrate the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin rocketing into space has been mischaracterized to wrongly claim that it shows Ukrainian students celebrating Hitler's birthday.
Anyone confusing this shape for a swastika is mistaken. While the the numbers are made with straight lines like a swastika ' lacking the curve that's often used to write the number five ' the angles are off. The two ends of both fives point in the same direction, whereas each end of a swastika points in a different direction.
But what's more, this photo wasn't taken in Lviv in 2022. It was shot in Penza, Russia, in 2016, to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Cosmonautics Day.
The "55" can be seen at the 47 mark, and it's followed by an image of Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet pilot who became the first person to orbit the earth on April 12, 1961.
We rate this post Pants on Fire!
This unfounded claim originated on a website known for publishing misinformation.
Putin has freed 35,000 children in Ukraine, a country he's invaded, or anywhere else. There are no credible sources nor news reports to support this.
Searching for evidence that Putin saved thousands of children, we only found articles reporting that Russian police jailed several children for leaving flowers at Ukraine's embassy in Moscow.
We rate this post Pants on Fire!
Verdict: False
The cover is digitally fabricated. A Time Magazine spokesperson confirmed the outlet did not publish such a cover.
[Note: This article is dated April 2022. Zelensky was featured on the 26 Dec., 2022 cover of Time Magazine, as its 'Person of the Year']
The tweet was fabricated and did not originate with CNN.
The photo in the post was taken in 2017. It was published in a March 30, 2022, story by CNN about the Azov Battalion of the Ukraine military. In that story, the photo caption says it was taken outside Kyiv on July 14, 2017, and shows "a student at a paramilitary camp for children call(ing) the rank to attention."
The AP confirmed with the photographer, Alex Masi, that it was taken at a "summer camp from 2016-17, where kids learn about the realities of war."
CNN did not tweet about "brave children" in Ukraine signing up to fight Russia, and we rate the claim Pants on Fire!
There's no credible evidence that Ukraine was behind the April 8 attack at the Kramatorsk train station. A video used to bolster this claim is fake ' it did not come from the BBC.
The claim has largely been spread by pro-Kremlin accounts following reports of civilian casualties and contradict earlier Russian posts that initially took credit for the bombing.
The Tochka-U missile used in the attack, and the serial number on it, isn't proof that it came from the Ukrainian army. Several news reports, legitimate photos and videos show that Russia has used these missile systems recently.
Our ruling
Facebook posts claim that Ukraine was responsible for the Kramatorsk train station bombing.
A video used to bolster this rumor is fake. Although the video has a BBC logo, it was not produced by the news organization.
There's no credible evidence that Ukraine was behind the attack.
The Tochka missile used in the attack, and the serial number on it, isn't proof that it came from the Ukrainian army. Several news reports, legitimate photos and videos show that Russia has used these missile systems recently. The rumors that Ukraine attacked the train station have largely been spread by pro-Kremlin social media accounts.
We rate this claim False.
Other countries have worse money laundering and human trafficking problems than Ukraine, according to experts and government reports.
Now amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a post claiming Ukraine is the "money laundering and child sex trafficking capital of the world!"
According to the State Department's latest Trafficking in Persons report, Russia has a more serious problem with child sex trafficking than Ukraine. Both countries struggle with the issue, the report said, but Ukraine took action to address it between 2020 and 2021, while Russia failed to make "significant efforts" to eliminate the problem.
While Ukraine convicted traffickers, increased financial assistance to victims, and launched awareness campaigns, Russia "convicted only one trafficker," failed to "initiate any new prosecutions of suspected traffickers," and "offered no funding or programs to provide services for trafficking victims."
Russia, not Ukraine, is among 11 governments the report says have "a documented 'policy or pattern' of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or employment or recruitment of child soldiers.
The report also ranks countries based on the extent of government efforts to meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Tier 1, the United States' ranking, is the highest, but it doesn't mean the country has no human trafficking problems. Rather, it means the country fully meets minimum standards to eliminate trafficking. Tier 2 ' Ukraine's tier ' means a country's government doesn't fully meet the minimum standards but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance. Tier 3 includes countries such as Afghanistan and Russia that don't meet the minimum standards and aren't trying to.
We rate this post False.
