Category Religion

Fake: Ukrainian Orthodox Churches Celebrate Halloween

Halloween was not celebrated in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine temples. In the original video, the choir performs the church song How Beautiful is Your Temple, Mother of God, and not the song dedicated to evil spirits holiday. In addition, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church publicly condemns any celebration of Halloween.

October 14, 2024
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Religion Religious freedom Ukraine

FACT CHECK: No, Orthodox Relics From Kyiv Will Not Be Auctioned In France On October 1 | Check Your Fact

A post shared on Facebook purports Orthodox relics from Kyiv, Ukraine are set to be auctioned at the Osenat Auction House in France on Oct. 1. Verdict: False An Oct. 1 auction listed on Osenat's website focuses on "The Interiors of Versailles," not Orthodox relics from Kyiv, as the post suggests. An Osenat spokesperson denied the claim's validity in an email to Reuters.

Fake: Russian Army Never Attacks Churches or Cultural Sites

UNESCO and UN specialists have recorded at least 270 Russian attacks on Ukrainian cultural sites, 116 of those were religious buildings.

Russia has attacked hundreds of churches in Ukraine

Russia often claims that it protects traditional values and Orthodox Christianity, while destroying, damaging, or looting hundreds of churches in Ukraine.

In pictures: The Ukrainian religious sites ruined by fighting

Several churches and a Jewish yeshiva destroyed or damaged by Russian shelling. BBC News report from March 2022.

July 5, 2023
Attacks on religion Religion Religious freedom Russia Ukraine War crimes

Damaged cultural sites in Ukraine verified by UNESCO

UNESCO list of damaged cultural sites in Ukraine - 260 as of 19 June. (Note that this list includes only those sites that have been verified by UNESCO - a complete list would be far longer.)

No, this video doesn’t show Ukrainians setting fire to an Orthodox church

Did Ukrainians really set a Russian Orthodox church on fire? A video purporting to show just that has been circulating online since April 5, 2023. However, it turns out that this video was filmed in Russia more than ten years ago and shows an accidental fire.

FACT CHECK: Did This Satirical Magazine Feature An Image Of Zelenskyy Stealing From Jesus? | Check Your Fact

Verdict: False The image is digitally fabricated. There is no evidence that Charlie Hebdo published this cover.

No, this isn’t a recent photo of Russian priests blessing ‘Satan’

A photo being shared amid the war in Ukraine shows Russian priests blessing a missile before a parade in 2015. It doesn't show them blessing the so-called "Satan 2" missile that was unveiled a year later.

May 18, 2022
AI-generated images Disinformation Methods Misconceptions Religion Russia Ukraine

This video showing Ukrainians kneeling as a convoy passes was filmed before the current war

Tens of thousands of people have watched a video posted on Facebook that allegedly shows Ukrainians kneeling as a convoy carries religious relics through the streets of Kyiv to a bunker. However, this video is actually from several years ago and shows a funeral procession for fallen soldiers in another part of Ukraine.

March 16, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Religion Russia Ukraine