No, the BBC didn’t air a video claiming Ukraine bombed one of its own train stations // VERIFY
Source published on: April 14, 2022 /
A video claiming to be a BBC News report suggested Ukraine bombed one of its own train stations. The video was fake and did not come from BBC News.
Indexed on 2022-04-14 12:00 // Categories: Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Faked news reports, International community, Media taken out of context, Methods, Misconceptions, Russia, Russian propaganda, UK, and Ukraine
FACT CHECK: Did Oprah Winfrey Remove ‘War and Peace’ From Her Book Club Due To Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine? | Check Your Fact // Check Your Fact (The Daily Caller)
Source published on: April 12, 2022 /
Verdict: False
The person who originally made the claim later said it was satirical. There is no evidence Winfrey announced the bookâs removal.
Indexed on 2022-04-12 12:00 // Categories: Fact checks / debunkings, International community, Misconceptions, Ukraine, and USA
No, Ukraine isn’t the money laundering or child sex trafficking capital of the world // PolitiFact
Source published on: April 12, 2022 /
Other countries have worse money laundering and human trafficking problems than Ukraine, according to experts and government reports.
Now amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a post claiming Ukraine is the “money laundering and child sex trafficking capital of the world!”
According to the State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons report, Russia has a more serious problem with child sex trafficking than Ukraine. Both countries struggle with the issue, the report said, but Ukraine took action to address it between 2020 and 2021, while Russia failed to make “significant efforts” to eliminate the problem.
While Ukraine convicted traffickers, increased financial assistance to victims, and launched awareness campaigns, Russia “convicted only one trafficker,” failed to “initiate any new prosecutions of suspected traffickers,” and “offered no funding or programs to provide services for trafficking victims.”
Russia, not Ukraine, is among 11 governments the report says have “a documented ‘policy or pattern’ of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or employment or recruitment of child soldiers.
The report also ranks countries based on the extent of government efforts to meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Tier 1, the United States’ ranking, is the highest, but it doesn’t mean the country has no human trafficking problems. Rather, it means the country fully meets minimum standards to eliminate trafficking. Tier 2 ‘ Ukraine’s tier ‘ means a country’s government doesn’t fully meet the minimum standards but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance. Tier 3 includes countries such as Afghanistan and Russia that don’t meet the minimum standards and aren’t trying to.
We rate this post False.
Indexed on 2022-04-12 12:00 // Categories: Child trafficking, Children, Corruption, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Misconceptions, Narratives, Protected groups & minorities, Russia, Russian propaganda, and Ukraine
Source published on: April 11, 2022 /
Therefore, the Kremlin’s claim that they presented a set of evidence to the UN which proves Ukraine’s crimes in Bucha is fake. That which the Russian Ambassador presented at a special press conference and the UN Security Council are impossible to be considered as “evidence.” Most of them are easily verifiable false claims and the rest is absurd allegations which are not considered as evidence in any format.
Indexed on 2022-04-11 12:00 // Categories: Attacks on civilians, Bucha, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Genocide, Genocide vs Ukraine (2022-), Misconceptions, Russia, Russian propaganda, Ukraine, United Nations, and War crimes
Source published on: April 11, 2022 /
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.
Indexed on 2022-04-11 12:00 // Categories: Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Media taken out of context, Methods, Misconceptions, Narratives, Russia, Russian propaganda, The war is a hoax, and Ukraine
Source published on: April 9, 2022 /
Russia is deceptively accusing Ukraine of Nazism and exploiting Romani-related subjects to do so. Natali Tomenko, a Romani activist from Ukraine, gave that assessment at a meeting on 30 March held under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Indexed on 2023-08-12 04:35 // Categories: Disinformation, Minorities in Ukraine, Misconceptions, Nazism, Protected groups & minorities, Roma (Romani), and Ukraine
Massacre in Bucha: refuting Russian propaganda fakes // Euroradio
Source published on: April 8, 2022 /
Bodies everywhere: on the roads, on the side of the road, and in makeshift mass graves. That’s how you can describe photos and videos from the Ukrainian town of Bucha, located very close to Kyiv. The images were seen by people around the world and shocked many. Russia, which was in control of the town, is trying to prove that its troops had nothing to do with it. They use the usual disinformation tactics: they launch several false theses at once in order to confuse everyone as much as possible.
Euroradio refutes Russian propagandists’ fakes about the massacre in Bucha.
Indexed on 2022-04-08 12:00 // Categories: Attacks on civilians, Bucha, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Genocide, Genocide vs Ukraine (2022-), Misconceptions, Russia, Russian propaganda, Ukraine, and War crimes
Zelensky and Soros Aren’t Cousins, Contrary to Social Media Claim // FactCheck.org (University of Pennsylvania)
Source published on: April 8, 2022 /
Conspiracy theories aimed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been circulating on social media since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. One recent example, falsely attributed to a “Pentagon official,” is the unfounded claim that Zelensky is the cousin of billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
Indexed on 2022-04-08 12:00 // Categories: Antisemitism, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Hatred and bigotry, Misconceptions, and Ukraine
Iconic photo is from Ukraine war, not Russia gas explosion // PolitiFact
Source published on: April 7, 2022 /
Olena Kurilo, a teacher, was injured on Feb. 24, 2022, when a Russian missile strike hit her apartment complex in Chuhuiv, Ukraine.
Her photograph was taken by at least three journalists that day and she was interviewed on video.
Photos in news reports that day show the apartment complex is not the building damaged by a 2018 gas explosion in Russia.
Our ruling
A social media user claims a photo of a Ukrainian woman that went viral after her apartment building was attacked on the first day of Russia’s invasion is actually from a 2018 gas explosion in Russia.
At least three photojournalists took photos of the woman on Feb. 24 and she was interviewed on camera. Multiple news reports confirmed the attack on the apartment building that day, and images show the building is not the same one damaged in the Russia gas explosion. We rate this claim False.
Indexed on 2022-04-07 12:00 // Categories: Attacks on civilians, Coordinated disinformation, Media taken out of context, Methods, Misconceptions, Narratives, Russia, Russian propaganda, The war is a hoax, Ukraine, and War crimes
Massacre in Bucha // Meduza
Source published on: April 7, 2022 /
On April 2, international journalists and Ukrainian military units entered Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv. The previous evening, videos showing the bodies of civilians lying on Yablonska Street had begun surfacing on Telegram, shocking people around the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to the Russian military’s actions as genocide; U.S. President Joe Biden called them war crimes. Meanwhile, the Russian government has given a number of contradictory explanations of what happened, none of which have acknowledged Russia’s own responsibility. Meduza has collected and analyzed all of the available information about the atrocities in Bucha. Here’s what we know for sure.
Indexed on 2022-04-07 12:00 // Categories: Attacks on civilians, Bucha, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Genocide, Genocide vs Ukraine (2022-), Misconceptions, Russia, Russian propaganda, Ukraine, and War crimes
No, a U.S. Army officer was not captured by Russian military forces in Ukraine // VERIFY
Source published on: April 7, 2022 /
Online users claimed Lt. Gen. Roger Cloutier, an American NATO officer, was recently captured in Ukraine. That’s false. He hasn’t been in Ukraine since July 2021.
Indexed on 2022-04-07 12:00 // Categories: Aid to Ukraine, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, International community, Military aid, Misconceptions, NATO, Russia, Russian propaganda, Ukraine, and USA
No, Tucker Carlson didn’t say this about Ukraine staging dead bodies // PolitiFact
Source published on: April 7, 2022 /
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.
Indexed on 2022-04-07 12:00 // Categories: Attacks on civilians, Bucha, Context, Fact checks / debunkings, International community, Misconceptions, Narratives, Russia, The war is a hoax, Ukraine, USA, and War crimes
No, Zelenskyy and Soros are not cousins // PolitiFact
Source published on: April 7, 2022 /
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and billionaire philanthropist George Soros are not cousins. The claim is “entirely false,” said a spokesperson for Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
A viral Facebook post falsely says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and billionaire philanthropist George Soros are related by birth ‘ one in a series of baseless claims about links between the two.
Soros has been at the center of many debunked claims about his connections to Ukraine, including that he wanted to run the country and that he was using the Ukraine “as a playing field to undermine (former President Donald) Trump’s campaign,” NBC News reported in 2019.
More recently, false claims have said that Soros admitted on television that he helped overthrow the former Ukrainian president in order to help Zelenskyy take office.
The NBC News story noted that Soros “has long been the target of conspiracy theorists about Jews controlling the world.” Soros and Zelenskyy are both Jewish.
We rate the claim that Zelenskyy is a cousin of Soros Pants on Fire!
Indexed on 2022-04-07 12:00 // Categories: Antisemitism, Fact checks / debunkings, Hatred and bigotry, International community, Misconceptions, Ukraine, and USA
The suspicious Twitter accounts claiming to be run by journalists in Ukraine // France 24
Source published on: April 7, 2022 /
The FRANCE 24 Observers team has launched an investigation into three Twitter accounts that claim to be run by journalists on the frontlines in Ukraine. The suspicious accounts were originally spotted by Conspirador Norteño, an account that specialises in studying misinformation on social media. But before that, they were thought to be authentic – one even appeared in an article in a British newspaper. We found several clues that raise concerns about whether these three people exist.
Indexed on 2022-04-07 12:00 // Categories: AI-generated images, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Methods, Misconceptions, Russia, and Ukraine
Fact-checking Russian disinformation about Bucha’s massacre, part 2 // European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO)
Source published on: April 6, 2022 /
One of the most contested elements of this story is the timeline of events, which was presented differently by Ukrainian and Russian authorities. But while Ukraine’s version has overall been confirmed by international media – even though it did present some contradictions –, Russia’s claims have been debunked.
The Kremlin, in fact, stated that bodies were not there when its troops left Bucha, but instead they were actors placed by Ukrainians to stage the massacre and blame Russia for it. This theory has been proved to be completely false by several international media, among which the New York Times, which analyzed satellite videos and images from before and after the liberation of Bucha, showing that corpses were already there when the town was under Russian control.
Indexed on 2022-04-06 12:00 // Categories: Attacks on civilians, Bucha, Disinformation, Fact checks / debunkings, Genocide, Genocide vs Ukraine (2022-), Misconceptions, Russia, Russian propaganda, and Ukraine