According to social media images, Leopard 2 tanks - recently delivered to Ukraine after weeks of waiting - have been destroyed by Russia's Wagner mercenary group. But Wagner's head Yevgeny Prigozhin has denied the claims, and the images have in fact been around on the internet for a while. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake with Vedika Bahl.
Conservative influencers in the United States are claiming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said America's "sons and daughters" will be obligated to fight and die for his country. This is misleading; Zelensky's full remarks show he was saying Russia might invade a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country if Ukraine loses the war, implicating the alliance's members in a larger conflict.
Misleading Material. The clip was removed from its important and clarifying context, giving a misleading impression of what Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader's remarks were a hypothetical answer about what could happen should Ukraine lose the war to Russia, partially due to decreased support from the United States. [...]
Zelensky did not suggest that Americans should send their children to fight now for Ukraine against Russian forces.
The words "big, fat, corrupt sinkhole" are not a direct quote, but an interpretation of what Gates is saying in the edited clip.
As his quote shows, Gates was referring to "pre-war" Ukraine, crucial context that was omitted from the clip circulating online.
It is not clear what Gates' timeframe is for "pre-war"—it could refer to before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 or its initial invasion in 2014.
In the video, President Joe Biden appears to say he's reinstating the draft so the U.S. can help defend Ukraine against Russian forces. The video is a deepfake.
Since the end of 2022, the FRANCE 24 Observers team has seen several similar examples of fake anti-Ukraine advertisements, reportedly on billboards in the United States and Poland. But when we took a closer look, we found some clues that convinced us these ads were fake and that the videos were edited.
An out of context excerpt from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's
press conference is being circulated online by Russian and US social media
users, claiming that he is calling on Americans to fight for Ukraine.
Answering questions during a press conference dedicated to the first
anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky said that
if Ukraine fails to stop Russia, then NATO countries will have to do it,
because capturing Ukraine will not stop Russia's expansionist policies
regarding its neighboring countries, including NATO members.
In a video circulated by Russian media claiming it shows Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky's double, the Ukrainian President is followed
by his personal bodyguard, Maxim Donets, who has headed the Ukrainian
Presidential Security Service since 2-019.
Employees of the US consulate in Milan never published a Twitter post with
the flags of Ukraine and Nazi Germany. The consulate's Twitter account was
hacked. After regaining control over the account, the hacked post was
deleted.
Fake Russian social media posts use 2018 photo of Turkish tank destroyed in
Syria.