A story that claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin bombed a villa in Ukraine owned by President Joe Biden is bogus. It was created by a misinformation website that regularly publishes made-up stories. We found no evidence that Biden has a villa in Ukraine.
Claims about nefarious biolabs in Ukraine ' some supposedly "U.S. owned" ' are also fabricated, and part of disinformation efforts by Russians.
It's unclear what the blog is talking about in its reference to "pedophile rings," but it claims that Putin is wiping out "child trafficking covens" in Ukraine, and we found no evidence that these exist.
The viral photograph shows Anastasiia Lenna, the 2015 Miss Grand Ukraine winner, posing with an airsoft gun. She confirmed that she did not join the Ukrainian military and said she posted the staged image to inspire people.
Our ruling
A Facebook post claims it shows a Ukrainian beauty queen fighting against the Russians invading Ukraine.
That's not the case. Lenna did not join the Ukrainian military. She posted a photo in which she's posing with an airsoft gun. She said the photo was meant to inspire people.
We rate this post False.
“Maria Zakharova's claim that Ukraine started this war is false. The Russian Federation illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, sparking broad international condemnation. On February 21, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine from the north, northeast, and from the Crimean Peninsula in the south, initiating a full-scale interstate war between Russia and Ukraine”.
News reports, testimonies of citizens-turned-fighters, and a swift global response all fly in the face of baseless claims that Russia's war on Ukraine is "staged."
"There is little to refute directly, other than to note that thousands or millions of people would have to be in on any conspiracy to fake a war, and like the 9/11 attacks (which some people also deny) there is substantial video footage of attacks on Ukrainian cities, Russian invading forces, and throngs of refugees," Radnitz said.
Nevertheless, he added, "a true believer will persist in denying all that evidence, something that is easier to do when the conflict is geographically distant and they do not personally know anyone directly affected by it."
With a war raging, the world responding and both sides of the conflict experiencing its effects, the claim that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is "scripted and staged" holds no merit. We rate it Pants on Fire!
The clip does not show a Ukrainian woman teaching people how to drive an abandoned Russian armored carrier amid the war.
The TikToker is a Russian auto-blogger named Nastya Tuman and the video is from February 2021.
The Facebook video is a compilation of several clips she shared on her TikTok page on Feb. 16, 2021.
Tuman speaks Russian throughout the videos and excitedly describes the vehicle, saying it has 8-wheel drive, a seating shooter and a hatch for the driver-mechanic. She also discusses how to start it, instructing viewers on how to turn it on and shift into gear.
The clip was made by a Russian woman and is from February 2021. It is unrelated to the current conflict in Ukraine. We rate posts claiming otherwise False.
The people under the tarps aren't crisis actors from Ukraine trying to fool people into thinking they are dead. They were part of a protest against climate change that was held in Vienna, Austria, on Feb. 4.
The clip is from a Feb. 4 demonstration against climate change in Vienna. The reporter, Marvin Bergauer, is from an Austrian news channel called OE24 TV and is speaking German in the video. An English translation of the chyron on the video says "Vienna: Demo against climate policy."
The people under the tarps aren't crisis actors ' from Germany, Ukraine or anywhere else ' trying to fool people into thinking that they are dead. They're protesters from Austria in a video taken before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
We rate this False.
During a 2013 speech, Vladimir Putin mentioned Satan and pedophilia, but he didn't say that the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles.
The headline that Putin said the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles was posted on a blog five years ago and also relies on this 2013 speech, but presents it as if Putin made the comments during former President Donald Trump's tenure. The blog, like the headlines in the Faceook video, sound themes familiar among those who follow QAnon, a movement that claims without evidence that there is a global cabal of child sex traffickers that Trump is trying to thwart.
The rest of the headlines that appear in the video vary in accuracy.
"Putin calls Bill and Hillary Clinton 'the same Satan'" was published in PJ Media in 2016 after Putin quoted a Russian proverb while talking about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's desire to be president like her husband, former President Bill Clinton. "As we say, husband and wife are the same Satan," Putin said.
"Putin: All U.S. presidents are puppets ' 'dark men in suits rule America'" appeared on blog posts in 2017 that paraphrased comments Putin made to the French publication Le Figaro.
According to an English Translation of Putin's remarks that appeared on the Kremlin's website, he did not mention puppets but said: "I have already spoken to three U.S. presidents. They come and go, but politics stay the same at all times. Do you know why? Because of the powerful bureaucracy. When a person is elected, they may have some ideas. Then people with briefcases arrive, well dressed, wearing dark suits, just like mine, except for the red tie, since they wear black or dark blue ones. These people start explaining how things are done. And instantly, everything changes. This is what happens with every administration."
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, images purporting to show Ukrainian acts of resistance have been shared widely on social networks. The Ukrainian population is indeed carrying out a strong resistance in several cities, but some of these posts are actually images taken out of context and have nothing to do with the ongoing conflict.
The video-sharing app TikTok has become a tool in the hybrid war in Ukraine, but fake news and scams connected to the conflict also abound on the platform. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake.
