Did a Pentagon official say that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the cousin of George Soros? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of a Pentagon official saying this or of a familial relationship between Zelenskyy and billi
Publication: War
Truth or Fiction?→ Russian Mobile Crematoriums
On April 7 2022, an Imgur post claimed that Russian “mobile crematoriums” had been deployed in Ukraine, specifically to conceal the high number of civilian casualties at the hands of Russian forces: Across an image of bombed out apartment
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Corpses Waving Or Moving Along Street In Ukrainian City Of Bucha
Does a video in the Ukrainian city of Bucha show "corpses" waving and moving alongside a road? No, that's not true: Bodies laying along the street can be seen in a video taken after Russian forces pulled out of the town, but none move or
Logically→ Russian forces captured the commander of the Azov Battalion in Mariupol in March 2022.
An old video has been used to falsely claim that Russian forces in Ukraine captured the leader of the Azov Regiment in March 2022.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Russian Consulate In Montreal Is NOT On ‘Avenue Zelensky’
Is the Russian Consulate in Montreal located on "Avenue Zelensky" as of March 31, 2022? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the city of Montreal tells Lead Stories, "This is misinformation." The sign in the image of this post was fake
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Military Singing Group Were NOT Arrested In Russia In 2022
Does a video show a military singing group getting arrested in St. Petersburg, Russia amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022? No, that's not true: The video is from 2015 and shows the Russian Army choir, a well-known singing group,
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This Video Does NOT Show Graves For Russian Soldiers Who Died In Ukraine — It’s From 2021
Did Russians start digging graves for all the soldiers who have died during the Russian invasion of Ukraine? No, that's not true: This 2021 video of already-dug graves predates the invasion. The administrator of the cemetery where these g
Logically→ The International Committee of the Red Cross is using the millions it collected to help Ukraine to sponsor the deportation of Ukrainians to Russia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is not facilitating the deportation of Ukrainian nationals to Russia.
Logically→ This image shows a road sign stuck on a Ukrainian fighter jet as it flew low to avoid radar detection.
Photos and videos claiming to show low-flying Ukrainian fighter jets during Russia's invasion of Ukraine are from a separate incident in 2020.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Banksy Did NOT Create Putin And Ukrainian Balloon Image — It’s From Music Video
Did British artist Banksy create a new art piece involving Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia? No, that's not true: A Banksy spokesperson said he did not create this image, which was altered from a screenshot of a music v
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ukraine Does NOT Grow 25% Of World’s Wheat – It’s Only 3%
Does Ukraine produce 25% of the world's wheat crop? No, that's not true: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates Ukraine's annual wheat harvest at just over 3% of the global total. Ukraine accounts for
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: BBC News Did NOT Broadcast Stock Footage Of Military Scenes As If Live War Coverage
Did this video showing live gun and tank battles originate as a BBC News broadcast about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? No, that's not true: This footage did not come from a live news report of a real battle. The footage was fil
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Edmonton Man Did NOT Fight Fires In Ukraine — It’s Ukrainian In Donated Gear
Was a Canadian firefighter spotted putting out a fire in Ukraine during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict? No, that's not true: That was a Ukrainian firefighter wearing donated firefighter gear from Edmonton, a city in Alberta, Canada. Kev
Logically→ The Russian Air Force has used prohibited phosphorus bombs to attack Ukraine.
There are no independent sources to verify whether the Russians have used white phosphorus bombs on Ukraine.
Logically→ The Russian Air Force has used prohibited phosphorus bombs to attack Ukraine.
There are no independent sources to verify whether the Russians have used white phosphorus bombs on Ukraine.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ukraine President Zelenskyy Did NOT Sing Cover Of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ — That’s Alejandro Manzano
Does a video show Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy playing piano and singing "Imagine," John Lennon's iconic song about world peace? No, that's not true: This video shows American singer Alejandro Manzano from the band Boyce Avenue
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ukrainian Medals For ‘Seizure Of Crimea’ NOT Found in Kherson — They’re Counterfeits
Did Russian troops in Kherson find pre-made Ukrainian medals "For the Taking of Crimea" when they captured a Ukrainian military facility at Kherson? No, that's not true. The photos circulated by the Russian news media and social media use
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Photo Does NOT Prove Kyiv Sends Armed Children To The Front Lines
Does Ukraine engage teenagers in its military forces by providing them with shoulder-mount anti-tank weapons and grenade launchers and sending them to the front lines as an Instagram post claims? No, this is not true: there is no photo, v
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence Putin Beheaded Bioweapon Engineers In Ukraine
Did Russian President Vladimir Putin behead 12 bioweapon engineers in Ukraine? No, there's no evidence that's true: The allegation was published by a website well known for publishing fake news stories. The supposed source for the claim w
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ukraine Gun Battle Is From 2018 NOT 2022
Did this footage of a gun battle between Ukraine and Russia get caught on camera in 2022? No, that's not true: Sky News' YouTube channel posted this exact video on August 3, 2018, with the title, "On the frontline in Ukraine | Hotspots."
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Canadian Sniper Wali Was NOT Killed In Ukraine — He Continues Giving Video Interviews To Reporters Who Know Him
Is it true that a Canadian sniper who calls himself Wali was killed in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol before March 23, 2022? No, that's not true: The person who runs the online application portal for Canadians volunteering t
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Russian 16-Year-Old Was Fatally Beaten By Ukrainians in Germany
Did a Russian teenage volunteer die in Germany after being beaten by Ukrainian refugees on March 20, 2022? No, that's not true: German police said no complaint or report of such a killing has been received. The person narrating the video
Logically→ There are several U.S.-funded Biolabs in Ukraine.
The U.S. has funded Ukrainian researchers working to stop the spread of dangerous diseases. They are not producing biological weapons.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Proof Of Ukrainian Forces Using Civilians As Human Shields In Mariupol
By Uliana Malashenko Is it true that Ukrainian forces used the people of Mariupol as a human shield to blame Russia for civilian casualties on March 21, 2022? No, that's not true. The claim was made without photographic, eyewitness or doc
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This ‘Witness’ Account Of Theater Shelter Bombing Does NOT Match Mariupol’s Geography
Did this woman witness a detonation or bomb attack that destroyed a theater where children were sheltering in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on March 16, 2022? No, that's not true: Her path from a sports complex shelter to the evacuation
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Zelenskyy Video Filmed At Night Does NOT Prove That He is In Poland
Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy flee Kyiv for a bunker in Poland? Is this evident because he posted a video filmed in front of a greenscreen with a scene of Kyiv added as a background? No, that is not a conclusive argument: Th
Truth or Fiction?→ Holocaust Survivor Boris Romantschenko Killed in Russian Attack on Ukraine
On March 21 2022, popular posts on Imgur and elsewhere referenced the death of 96-year-old Boris Romantschenko, a Holocaust survivor, in Charkiv, Ukraine: KZ Survivor Boris Romantschenko was killed in Charkiw In the above post (“KZ Survivor B
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: There’s NO Evidence Brent Renaud Was An American Spy
By Uliana Malashenko and James Rosen Was U.S. citizen Brent Renaud, who was killed March 13 by Russian troops at a checkpoint near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, an American intelligence operative? No, it is not true. The claim was made w
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Russia Boycott, Keystone XL Stoppage Are NOT The Drivers Of Gas Price Hikes
Did President Joe Biden's wartime ban on Russian oil imports cause the cost of gasoline to skyrocket and would completing the XL branch of the Keystone pipeline bring prices down? No, that's not true: Oil market experts and economists say
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NATO Did NOT Launch More Than 10,000 Air Raids On Libya In 2011 With Over 500,000 Civilian Casualties
Did NATO launch more than 10,000 air raids on Libya in 2011 with over 500,000 civilian casualties? No, that's not true: According to a NATO official, the claim is "bogus." The director of the nonprofit watchdog group Airwars says the acco
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Russian Soldiers In Ukraine — They Are Kenya Defence Forces
Does a Facebook video show Russian soldiers using a Soviet-era rocket-propelled grenade in Ukraine during the 2022 invasion? No, that's not true: Two military experts contacted by Lead Stories in March 2022 said the uniforms worn in the v
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show US Paratroopers In Ukraine In 2022
Does a video show U.S. paratroopers in Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine? No, that's not true: The clips in the video are at least six years out of date, excerpted from videos identified as showing U.S. military paratroo
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Zelenskyy’s Shirt Had Symbol Of Ukrainian Armed Forces — NOT Infamous Iron Cross
Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wear a T-shirt with an iron cross on his chest while addressing the U.S. Congress on March 16, 2022? No, that's not true: The shirt he wore had the symbol of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the le
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Russian Missiles Killed 35 Ukrainians, NOT 180 ‘Foreign Mercenaries’ In Yavoriv
Did Russian missiles kill up to 180 foreign mercenaries at the Yavoriv military base in Ukraine on March 13, 2022? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of any nationality but Ukrainians among the dead. Although it can't be stated the
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Zelenskyy Surrendering — It’s A Low-Quality Deepfake
Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publish a video telling Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their weapons? No, it's not true. The video is an obviously manipulated compilation of audio and video, called a deepfake. Zelenskyy's neck
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Of Putin Ending The War Is NOT Real — It’s A ‘Deepfake’
Did Russian President Vladimir Putin announce on March 16, 2022, that Russia, having invaded Ukraine, had capitulated? No, that is not true: No credible independent or official source has reported such a statement by the Russian president
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show ‘FGM148 Javelin … vs Russian Vehicles’ — It’s Video Game Footage
Does a video posted to Facebook show footage of a Javelin missile targeting a Russian military vehicle as of March 2022? No, that's not true: This video shows footage from the military shooter video game Arma 3. Lead Stories has previousl
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO ‘Battle’ Over Chukchi Sea ‘Today’ Between Russian MIG-31 Fighter And US RC-135 Aircraft
Was there an air battle over Chukchi Sea between Russian MiG-31 fighters and a U.S. RC-135 aircraft on March 12, 2022, as claimed by a title on a video posted on Facebook? No, that's not true: This clickbait headline overdramatizes a true
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Footage of Ukrainian War Is NOT From 2022, It’s From August 2014
Does a video on social media show "leaked footage of heavy war between Russia vs. Ukraine" in 2022? No, that's not true: There is a compilation of Ukrainian footage in the post, but it's from August 2014. The claim appeared in a Facebook
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Ukraine Press Release About Joe Biden’ Video Is NOT New — It Is From 2020
Does a video show a Ukrainian press conference about President Joe Biden amid Russia's invasion of the country? No, that's not true: The video is from 2020 and includes footage of a press conference with a Ukrainian lawmaker who has been