Category Russia

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: Has Russia Lost More Men in Ukraine than U.S. in Recent Wars?

Ukraine has claimed that Russia has lost 66,280 troops since the start of the war, although other estimates puts the figure at much lower.

October 21, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings Russia Ukraine

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

No, US actor Sean Penn didn’t film fake videos of the invasion of Ukraine in March 2022 – no proof anyone has – Africa Check

We've seen plenty of outlandish claims about the war between Russia and Ukraine on social media. But one claiming actor Sean Penn was involved in faking the entire conflict may take the cake - and is certainly also false.

October 21, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings International community Russia Ukraine

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

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

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

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.