Category The war is a hoax

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".

The man in this video is an actor, but it does not mean the Ukraine war is being staged – Truth or Fake

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, repeated false claims have appeared on social media alleging that the entire conflict is being staged. FRANCE 24's fact-checking team debunk the latest example: two videos that show a man in Ukrainian army uniform being filmed, as he appears to act out a scene on the battlefield.

October 21, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Narratives NATO Russia The war is a hoax Ukraine

Debunking claims that Ukraine staged injuries following Russian missile strike on Kyiv – Truth or Fake

Pro-Russian accounts claim that Ukrainian "propaganda" and mainstream Western media are showing fake victims, following a Russian missile strike in Kyiv on October 10. AP and Reuters reporters on the scene were able to confirm that the civilians in the viral posts are real victims of the war in Ukraine. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

October 17, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings Narratives Russia Russian propaganda The war is a hoax Ukraine

War in Ukraine: Fact-checking Russian claims that Nato troops are fighting in Ukraine

It's well known that foreign fighters have joined Ukrainian military units. However, claims are being made by Russian officials and media outlets of serving Nato troops on the ground in Ukraine. [...]

Russian media outlets haven't provided evidence of serving Nato personnel on the ground, only pointing to the presence of individual foreign fighters on the battlefield.

September 21, 2022
Aid to Ukraine Fact checks / debunkings International community Narratives NATO Poland Putin Russia Russian propaganda The war is a hoax Ukraine

No, this photo of Ukrainians training for combat doesn’t prove the war is fake

A Reuters photo of Ukrainians training for combat is being used as supposed evidence that the war there is fake. It's not.

A screenshot of a tweet by conservative activist Jack Posobiec is spreading on social media as evidence that the war in Ukraine is staged.

Trudy Rubin, a foreign affairs columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote from outside of Kyiv in February that civilian trainees were "practicing with cardboard guns or plastic paintball guns or hunting rifles from home until they are provided military weapons."

Even members of the U.S. military have used paintball guns for training exercises.

The war in Ukraine is real, and it has been well-documented by reporters and citizens on the ground in the country.

We rate claims that this photo proves it's being staged Pants on Fire.

Undamaged windows are not evidence of staged Ukraine violence

Social media posts claim a photo shows cars damaged by a Russian bomb near a building with intact windows in Bucha, suggesting it proves violence in the Ukrainian town was staged. But there is no evidence of a strike near the building, and residents said military vehicles were used to upend the cars -- accounts confirmed by media reports and other images from the town.

Video of mannequin shows TV drama, not Ukraine ‘faking dead bodies’ in Bucha

Footage of two men handling a mannequin is circulating in social media posts that claim it shows a "prop" passed off as a dead body in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where dozens of corpses were discovered in April after Russian forces retreated. In fact, the video -- viewed hundreds of thousands of times -- was not filmed in Bucha. It was recorded for a Russian TV drama in Vsevolozhsk near Saint Petersburg on March 20, 2022.

No, this photo of intact windows in Bucha doesn’t prove the war in Ukraine is a hoax

The destruction in Bucha due to Russia invading Ukraine has been well-documented through news reports and photos. An image of overturned cars next to a building with intact windows doesn't disprove that.

Photographer Emanuele Satolli, who took photos at the same scene pictured in the Instagram post, told the Greek fact-checking outlet Ellinika Hoaxes that he "met several citizens and everyone told me that the cars had been overturned by Russian tanks."

Plenty of other photos Abd shot in Bucha show shattered windows, rubble from devastated buildings, streets in ruins, and human corpses ' all the real toll of a real war.

Claims that the war in Ukraine is fake are inaccurate and ridiculous. That's our definition of Pants on Fire.

April 27, 2022
Bucha Context Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Narratives Russia Russian propaganda The war is a hoax Ukraine War crimes

Russian TV claimed Ukraine used mannequins to fake war casualties. That video is actually from a TV show set

During a Russia-24 news segment, broadcasters claimed Ukraine was using mannequins to exaggerate the civilian death toll. The clip they shared is from a TV show set.

No, Tucker Carlson didn’t say this about Ukraine staging dead bodies

Some people have interpreted a tweet about Tucker Carlson and Ukraine to mean that he suggested the country staged dead bodies. But he didn't say that.

Russia has said without evidence that "fake dead bodies" were "staged" in Bucha after its troops left the town. Carlson, meanwhile, has been criticized for echoing Russian talking points. On March 9, for example, Carlson said a Russian claim that Ukraine has bioweapon labs was "totally and completely true," but there's no evidence that's the case, PolitiFact reported.

But this talking point, about staged bodies, wasn't one Carlson made.

We rate claims that he said the words that appeared in Wash's tweet False.