02-06-2025
Fact check: Posts don't show recent Russia-Ukraine attacks – DW – 06/02/2025
Russia and Ukraine have launched drone strikes just shortly before negotiators were set to meet for talks in Turkey. Viral posts on social media allegedly showing these attacks used footage from previous clashes.
After Ukraine said it destroyed more than 40 Russian aircrafts in Russia, Kyiv reported a record-breaking number of Russian missile and drone attacks on Sunday.
Social media users were quick to share images and footage allegedly showing the recent escalation ahead of potential truce talks in Turkey. DW's Fact check team takes a look at some of those viral posts.
Claim: This video allegedly shows a Russian Iskinder missile hitting targets in Ukraine. "It's Just beginning," a social media user writes in this post on X with 2 million views.
DW Fact check: False
While this video does indeed show Russia attacking Ukraine, the footage is old. An reverse image search takes us to this video from early July 2024 when Russia launched a massive strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv.
Claims like these are notoriously hard to fact-check — but the video is old and does not show recent events Image: X
Claim: Russia has allegedly placed its nuclear weapons on high alert, claims this post with close to 5 million views (at the time of publishing), sharing a video of what appears to be nuclear weapons being transported in Russia. Another post with more than 2 million views (at the time of publishing) alleges the US had warned European allies that Russia was "preparing a 'disproportionate response' to today's attack on air bases."
DW Fact check: Unproven
While it's unclear whether US intelligence has warned Europe about Russia lashing out disproportionately, the video shared by these accounts does not show recent movement of military equipment.
The footage was originally published by Russia's Ministry of Defense on Telegram on February 27, 2024: The intercontinental ballistic missile autonomous mobile launchers seen there were on a 400-kilometer (249-mile) route ahead of a military parade in Moscow, the post reads.
The Russian Ministry of Defense shared the video in question on its Telegram account back in February 2024 Image: Telegram
Similar videos of weapons being transported have been widely shared in the past to illustrate Russia getting ready for a potential nuclear launch. These videos have also been debunked by other fact checking organizations in the past .
This photo of an alleged ID card has been used time and again in disinformation campaigns Image: X
Claim: A viral post on X allegedly shows "[f]irst images of the truck driver at Irkutsk airbase" — it includes a photo of what's made to look like an ID card from Ukraine.
DW Fact check: False
While the ID card of "Semen Hydenko" itself is suspicious — take a closer look at the bottom which just shows a line of zeros — a reverse image search reveals that the ID card has been regurlarly used in the context of disinformation in the past as well . At least from 2022 onwards, it has been circulating, for instance, to claim that the man pictured was allegedly responsible for the Kerch Bridge blast or the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in 2024 when he was running for president.
A reverse image search of the man pictured reveals his identity: It is US-American comedian Sam Hyde, who has been linked to various alt-right communities. He's been the subject of a number of fact checks in the past.
Anna Schild contributed reporting.
Edited by: Rachel Baig
