Category Misconceptions

Finland did not advise citizens to ‘urgently buy iodine tablets after escalation of war in Ukraine’

Several Thai posts have shared a misleading claim that the Finnish government advised its citizens to urgently buy iodine tablets after an escalation of the war in Ukraine. It circulated in October 2022 after the Nordic country updated its guidelines on the use of iodine in case of a radiation hazard. A government official told AFP that events in Ukraine would not compromise radiation safety in Finland. They added that their guidelines aim to ensure there is protection for the most vulnerable in case of an emergency resulting from a nuclear reactor accident, as they are heavily dependent on nuclear power.

CNN didn’t report that Uganda’s president said it would be ‘disgusting’ to support Ukraine

Uganda's president came out as an early supporter of russia but this is not a real CNN headline.

The post appears to be an altered screenshot of a 2014 story on CNN's website. The story features a paused video of Museveni in which he appears wearing the same outfit and in front of the same background as the image of him in the Instagram post.

We found no credible news reports or other sources documenting Museveni as saying it would be disgusting to support Ukraine.

We rate that claim False.

October 24, 2022
Aid to Ukraine Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Ukraine USA

Video game clip falsely shared as NATO military convoy being destroyed in Ukraine – Truth or Fake

A viral post on Facebook claims to show a convoy of NATO military advisers being destroyed by Russian missiles. While many users believe that the images represent actual fighting, they were actually taken from a war video game series called Arma 3. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

October 24, 2022
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions NATO Russia Ukraine

Were these Ukrainians staging a fake battle scene? Nope, it’s a music video

Pro-Russian social media accounts have been widely circulating a video over the past few weeks that shows a man dressed as a Ukrainian soldier acting out a scene in front of a camera. These accounts have claimed this video is proof that people are staging scenes of theÂ war in Ukraine. Turns out, however, the video was filmed during the shooting of a music video by a Ukrainian artist whose music represents the "pain of war".

Photo of Zelenskyy holding a jersey with a swastika was altered

This photo was altered. In the original, Zelenskyy is holding a jersey that has the number 95, not a swastika.

The original image was distributed by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service in June 2021. According to a caption on Agence France-Presse's website, it shows him "posing with a jersey of Ukraine's national football team."

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed the idea that the effort is one of "denazification," a narrative historians have decried as "false and destructive."

We rate claims Zelenskyy was holding a jersey with a swastika False.

Fact check: ‘Staging’ of air attack victims in Kyiv?

After the rockets comes the propaganda - pro-Russian voices have claimed that wounded people in Kyiv were just actors staging their suffering. But a DW fact check shows that the victims are real.

October 18, 2022
Attacks on civilians Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Russia Ukraine War crimes

Did Fuel Crisis Force Berliners to Chop Trees in Tiergarten?

Germans have not been chopping down trees in Tiergarten, Berlin, to meet energy needs. The claim is a misquote from a Bloomberg article about firewood demand.

While the article mentions that residents in the German capital did resort to felling parts of the park after the Second World War, the article clearly states that no such thing has happened today following Russia's shutdown of gas supplies to Europe.

The misquote, however, has been widely shared by pro-Russian accounts to support their narrative about the energy crisis in Europe.

October 17, 2022
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Germany Misconceptions Russian propaganda

Social media post critical of Zelenskyy came from Kid Rock fan account, not the artist

A screenshot of a Gettr post critical of U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine has been attributed to Kid Rock, but it originated on a fan account.

We couldn't find a Gettr account for Kid Rock, and it's not listed among the social media accounts on his website. Kid Rock's website links to his YouTube account and his verified Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

We've previously debunked claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy owns a $35 million home in Florida. We couldn't find any credible sources to corroborate the claim in this Gettr post, either.

As for the claim that Kid Rock authored it, we rate that False.

October 17, 2022
Aid oversight Aid to Ukraine Corruption Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Military aid Misconceptions Ukraine

No, these photos don’t prove that Zelensky is filming his videos in front of a green screen

Pro-Russian social media accounts have been circulating photos and a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky standing in front of a green screen, claiming that this image offers proof that the videos that he publishes on social media are filmed in a studio and not on the ground as claimed. However, these pictures don"t prove anything of the sortÂ -Â they were taken during a forum where the president appeared as a hologram.

Crimea bridge blast — what’s real, and what’s fake?

A truck, a boat and an ID card - the search for clues after the Crimea bridge explosion is mired with fakes. One particularly clumsy deception comes from the Russian secret service, as our fact check shows.