Ukraine explosion clip misrepresented as Mideast conflict
The short video shows an explosion at night near a building complex.
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Screenshot of the false post captured July 8, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The video also surfaced on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and was shared in posts written in English, Arabic and Azerbaijani.
The Middle East adversaries traded devastating missile attacks after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities (archived link).
The strikes left more than 900 people dead in Iran and 28 people dead in Israel. A ceasefire announced on June 24 ended the war (archived link).
A reverse image search of keyframes on Google found a higher quality version of the video uploaded on the website ViralHog (archived link).
"A Shahed drone, launched by Russian forces, strikes a residential high-rise building in Kyiv, Ukraine. The video captures the exact moment of impact and explosion," reads its caption which states the clip was filmed June 9, 2025.
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Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the ViralHog video
The reverse search also yielded pages that show a similar looking apartment complex in Ukraine (archived here and here).
A picture of a building in Kyiv uploaded by a Ukraine-based real estate company matches elements in the circulating clip including the yellow fence around the park and an entrance door (archived link).
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Screenshot comparison of falsely shared video (L) and a picture from a Ukraine-based real estate firm, with similarities highlighted by AFP
AFP has debunked other false claims about the Iran-Israel war here.
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