Latest news with #Arma3
Euronews
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
EU proposes fresh sanctions on Russia's oil, banks and Nord Stream
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, social media has seen a spike in misinformation and videos purporting to show footage of Moscow's war — when the images in reality originate from video games. For instance, videos allegedly showing Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb — which was carried out by Ukraine's Security Service on 1 June — have been shared widely online. EuroVerify reviewed a series of these clips, which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views across social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. Although at first glance they could appear to show scenes of war — such as missiles, drones, and infrastructure being bombarded — the clips do not have any clear signs which certify their authenticity. By conducting a reverse image search, EuroVerify found that a number of clips claiming to show Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb have in fact been misleadingly captioned and taken out of context — in reality, they match gaming videos posted by a YouTube channel called UWC. The channel's biography states that "all videos on the channel are a simulation of combat operations in the game Arma 3. We are against this terrible war and we want a peaceful sky over the heads of Ukrainians." Despite this mention, the channel — like many other similar gaming channels — posts videos which bare misleading titles such as "Ukrainian most massive drone raid destroys two largest Russian factories 1,000 km from borders" and "Daring Ukrainian FPV drone swarm raid destroys 40 Russian nuclear bombers: Tu-95, Tu-160, Tu-22M". The gaming developer studio Bohemia Interactive, which created Arma 3, separately reviewed videos sent by EuroVerify, which have been posted across social media platforms, and confirmed that they were made using a "modded" version of Arma 3. Video game "modding" is a popular activity for gamers, where they customise a game's features or visuals on their own or with the help of third-party plugins and other materials. Bohemia Interactive, like many other video game developers, has come out against its products being used as 'war propaganda'. While video game footage has consistently been taken out of context in relation to Russia's war in Ukraine, this is also the case for other wars and conflicts — as video game recordings have also been presented as footage of the Israel-Hamas war, as well as the recent tensions between India and Pakistan on social media. Determining whether footage is real can be a very complex task, which has even led certain media outlets to air video game clips on TV. In November 2022, Romanian channel Antena 3 broadcast an old Arma 3 video, which it alleged showed fighting in Ukraine, additionally asking a former defence minister and a former intelligence chief to comment on the images as if they were authentic. The European Union has formally proposed a fresh round of sanctions against Russia to pressure the Kremlin into accepting a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, a step that Western allies consider an indispensable prelude to serious peace negotiations. If approved by member states, it would mark the 18th package of sanctions since February 2022, the largest regime ever imposed by the bloc. The latest proposal, unveiled on Tuesday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative Kaja Kallas, expands the blacklist of Russian banks and "shadow fleet" tankers. So far, Brussel has targeted over 350 vessels from the poorly kept fleet, which has been accused of engaging in sabotage and vandalism. The plan also features a ban on the Nord Stream pipelines that connect Russia and Germany underwater. The pipelines are currently non-operational and Berlin has ruled out the prospect of re-starting gas transit after the war comes to an end. The most notable element of the proposed package is a downward revision of the price cap on Russia's seaborne oil, which was established at G7 level in December 2022. The cap was set at $60 per barrel of crude and has remained unchanged since then, despite ample fluctuations in Russia's trade and evidence of circumvention. The Nordics and the Baltics have long called for a revision to reflect market dynamics. In theory, the EU could pass new legislation to bring down the level of the cap on its own in an attempt to further squeeze Moscow's profits. However, doing so without the participation of the United States could create a cacophony and weaken the initiative, which is supposed to have worldwide effect. Until now, Donald Trump has refused to apply new sanctions against Russia, even if his rhetoric towards Vladimir Putin had hardened over the slow pace in negotiations and the continued barrage of attacks against Ukrainian cities. Trump's position has driven a wedge across the Western front, with the EU, the UK and Canada moving ahead with fresh restrictions while Washington takes a step back. The tensions in the alliance will come to the fore on Sunday during a G7 summit in Canada, where the revision of the price cap will be high on the agenda. Meanwhile, EU officials and diplomats insist on piling extra pressure on the Kremlin regardless of the course of action that the White House chooses to take. Trump's direction, though, could influence deliberations in Brussels, as unanimity among the 27 member states is required to approve the 18th package. Hungary and Slovakia have in recent months ramped up their criticism against sanctions, arguing they cause more damage to the bloc's economy than to Russia's. Earlier this year, Hungary threatened to veto the renewal of all sectorial sanctions, an against-the-clock experience that prompted officials to start working on legal shortcuts, particularly with a view to protecting the estimated €210 billion in Russia's frozen assets. Last week, Slovakia's parliament narrowly passed a resolution urging the government to oppose further trade restrictions against Russia. "If there is a sanction that would harm us, I will never vote for it," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said after the vote in parliament. "I am interested in being a constructive player in the European Union, but not at the expense of Slovakia." Still, for all their antagonistic talk, neither Hungary nor Slovakia has gone as far as completely preventing the adoption of a new package of sanctions. Nine people were killed in a school shooting in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, according to interior ministry officials and the domestic press. Mayor Elke Kahr, who initially said that eight people — seven students and one adult —were among the dead, described the event as a 'terrible tragedy,' the Austria Press Agency reported. Kahr said that many people were taken to hospitals with injuries. Kahr later said that the death toll rose to 10, but it was unclear whether this figure includes the alleged perpetrator, who also died in the aftermath of the attack. The police confirmed that the figure included the attacker. The Austrian interior ministry previously confirmed there were several casualties, but has not revealed any further details. State broadcaster ORF reported that students and teachers were among those injured. At least 30 people were admitted to hospital for treatment in relation to the shooting, with some seriously injured, the local press said. The suspected perpetrator, reportedly a former student armed with a pistol and a shotgun, killed himself when approached by armed police officers. A police operation was under way at the BORG high school on Dreierschuetzengasse street on Tuesday morning. Graz Police spokesperson Sabri Yorgun said special Cobra units were among those sent to the high school after a call was received at 10 am, and that authorities were working to gain an overview of what had happened. Other emergency services and a helicopter were dispatched to the scene. At 11:30 am, police wrote on social network X that the school had been evacuated and everyone had been taken to a safe meeting point. They wrote that the situation was 'secured' and it was no longer believed to be any danger. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said the shooting 'is a national tragedy that deeply shocks our whole country.' 'There are no words for the pain and grief that all of us — the whole of Austria — feel now,' he wrote in a statement posted on X. President Alexander Van der Bellen said that 'this horror cannot be captured in words.' 'These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way,' he said. 'Schools are symbols for youth, hope and the future,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. 'It is hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence.' Graz is a city of some 300,000 and is the capital of the southern Austrian province of Styria.
Euronews
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Fake war clips from video games mislead millions on social media
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, social media has seen a spike in misinformation and videos purporting to show footage of Moscow's war — when the images in reality originate from video games. For instance, videos allegedly showing Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb — which was carried out by Ukraine's Security Service on 1 June — have been shared widely online. EuroVerify reviewed a series of these clips, which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views across social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. Although at first glance they could appear to show scenes of war — such as missiles, drones, and infrastructure being bombarded — the clips do not have any clear signs which certify their authenticity. By conducting a reverse image search, EuroVerify found that a number of clips claiming to show Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb have in fact been misleadingly captioned and taken out of context — in reality, they match gaming videos posted by a YouTube channel called UWC. The channel's biography states that "all videos on the channel are a simulation of combat operations in the game Arma 3. We are against this terrible war and we want a peaceful sky over the heads of Ukrainians." Despite this mention, the channel — like many other similar gaming channels — posts videos which bare misleading titles such as "Ukrainian most massive drone raid destroys two largest Russian factories 1,000 km from borders" and "Daring Ukrainian FPV drone swarm raid destroys 40 Russian nuclear bombers: Tu-95, Tu-160, Tu-22M". The gaming developer studio Bohemia Interactive, which created Arma 3, separately reviewed videos sent by EuroVerify, which have been posted across social media platforms, and confirmed that they were made using a "modded" version of Arma 3. Video game "modding" is a popular activity for gamers, where they customise a game's features or visuals on their own or with the help of third-party plugins and other materials. Bohemia Interactive, like many other video game developers, has come out against its products being used as 'war propaganda'. While video game footage has consistently been taken out of context in relation to Russia's war in Ukraine, this is also the case for other wars and conflicts — as video game recordings have also been presented as footage of the Israel-Hamas war, as well as the recent tensions between India and Pakistan on social media. Determining whether footage is real can be a very complex task, which has even led certain media outlets to air video game clips on TV. In November 2022, Romanian channel Antena 3 broadcast an old Arma 3 video, which it alleged showed fighting in Ukraine, additionally asking a former defence minister and a former intelligence chief to comment on the images as if they were authentic. Nine people were killed in a school shooting in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, according to interior ministry officials and the domestic press. Mayor Elke Kahr, who initially said that eight people — seven students and one adult —were among the dead, described the event as a 'terrible tragedy,' the Austria Press Agency reported. Kahr said that many people were taken to hospitals with injuries. Kahr later said that the death toll rose to 10, but it was unclear whether this figure includes the alleged perpetrator, who also died in the aftermath of the attack. The police confirmed that the figure included the attacker. The Austrian interior ministry previously confirmed there were several casualties, but has not revealed any further details. State broadcaster ORF reported that students and teachers were among those injured. Some 28 people were admitted to hospital for treatment in relation to the shooting, the local press said. The suspected perpetrator, reportedly a former student armed with a pistol and a shotgun, killed himself when approached by armed police officers. A police operation was under way at the BORG high school on Dreierschuetzengasse street on Tuesday morning. Graz Police spokesperson Sabri Yorgun said special Cobra units were among those sent to the high school after a call was received at 10 am, and that authorities were working to gain an overview of what had happened. Other emergency services and a helicopter were dispatched to the scene. At 11:30 am, police wrote on social network X that the school had been evacuated and everyone had been taken to a safe meeting point. They wrote that the situation was 'secured' and it was no longer believed to be any danger. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said the shooting 'is a national tragedy that deeply shocks our whole country.' 'There are no words for the pain and grief that all of us — the whole of Austria — feel now,' he wrote in a statement posted on X. President Alexander Van der Bellen said that 'this horror cannot be captured in words.' 'These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way,' he said. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner was on his way to Graz. 'Schools are symbols for youth, hope and the future,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. 'It is hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence.' Graz is a city of some 300,000 and is the capital of the southern Austrian province of Styria.
India Today
03-06-2025
- General
- India Today
Fact Check: NOT Op Spider's Web! ARMA 3 clip shared as Ukraine's attack on Russian aircraft
Under Operation Spider's Web, which was planned for more than a year and a half, a swarm of Ukrainian drones struck at least five military airbases deep inside Russia's borders. Per reports, the much-talked-about attack on June 1 left more than 40 Russian aircraft in this, a video allegedly showing the drone attack started making the rounds on social media. The clip showed several aircraft on fire as multiple explosions took place, seemingly at an air base. Drone-like objects could also be seen flying in the sky above. advertisementThose sharing the clip wrote, 'Breaking: Footage shows the destruction of Russian jets by Ukrainian drones.' Some news reports have even used a screenshot from this video in their reports about Ukraine's Op Spider's Web. India Today Fact Check, however, found that this is an 'Arma 3' video game PROBEReverse-searching keyframes from the viral clip led us to an extended version of it, shared on a YouTube channel on January 1, 2025. The description read: '40 Russian strategic bombers TU-95 destroyed in daring Ukrainian FPV-Drone swarm raid. Arma 3 Footage! Not real news!' This YouTube video is a compilation of multiple clips showing aerial attacks on aircraft using drones. This channel has posted a few other similar videos as well. All of these clips have a disclaimer in the description stating that 'these videos are made for entertainment and educational purposes in military simulator ARMA 3.'advertisementMultiple videos of Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web have surfaced on social media showing Russian aircraft on fire. However, the video in question is from Arma 3 and has nothing to do with Op Spider's is noteworthy that videos of Arma 3 gameplay have been shared in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war earlier as well. Our reports on such military simulation videos can be read here and Watch Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Video game footage misrepresented as fighting between India and Pakistan
Videos purportedly showing fighter jets being shot down were shared on Facebook and Instagram as fighting erupted along India and Pakistan's contested frontier on May 7, 2025. They exchanged heavy artillery fire after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival, in the worst violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours in decades (archived link). The fighting came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied. The Burmese-language caption of the Facebook video reads: "Indian fighter jets have entered and attacked Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It's been said that five Indian fighter jets were shot down by Pakistan missiles." Superimposed text on the Instagram video, meanwhile, says it shows an "Automatic Attack by Raddar (sic)" that was filmed on May 6. The days of deadly attacks were halted by a ceasefire agreed on May 10 -- news surprisingly announced by US President Donald Trump, who congratulated New Delhi and Islamabad on using "common sense" (archived link). Pakistan said 40 civilians and 11 military service members had died in the fighting, and India said 15 of its civilians and five soldiers had died (archived link). The circulating videos were also shared in similar Facebook and X posts. While Pakistan claimed it had downed five Indian warplanes, the footage circulating online was in fact taken from a video game. A combination of keyword searches and reverse image searches using keyframes from the first falsely shared video led to a higher-definition clip shared on Facebook on April 19. "This is my own video created from a game called Arma 3," the user told AFP on Facebook Messenger on May 10, adding it was "unrelated to the current war". Arma 3, a tactical shooter simulation created by Czech video game developer Bohemia Interactive, allows players to create their own combat simulations using realistic military gear (archived link). Gameplay footage from Arma 3 has previously been misrepresented in posts linking it to fighting in the Middle East. Bohemia Interactive also warned in October 2023 that footage from its game was being used to spread misinformation (archived link). Separate keyword searches and reverse image searches using keyframes from the second falsely shared video led to the same clip published on Instagram on March 30 (archived link). The account regularly shares military content and video game footage. Bohemia Interactive's public relations manager Pavel Krizka told AFP the clip was taken from their game. "This video features Arma 3 gameplay footage," he said in an emailed response on May 13, and reminded social media users, media and government organisations to always check their sources. The conflict between India and Pakistan has triggered a wave of misinformation, some of which AFP has debunked here.
AFP
14-05-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Video game footage misrepresented as fighting between India and Pakistan
Videos purportedly showing fighter jets being shot down were shared on Facebook and Instagram as fighting erupted along India and Pakistan's contested frontier on May 7, 2025. They exchanged heavy artillery fire after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival, in the worst violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours in decades (archived link). The fighting came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied. The Burmese-language caption of the Facebook video reads: "Indian fighter jets have entered and attacked Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It's been said that five Indian fighter jets were shot down by Pakistan missiles." Superimposed text on the Instagram video, meanwhile, says it shows an "Automatic Attack by Raddar (sic)" that was filmed on May 6. Image Screenshots of the false Facebook and Instagram posts, captured on May 14, 2025 The days of deadly attacks were halted by a ceasefire agreed on May 10 -- news surprisingly announced by US President Donald Trump, who congratulated New Delhi and Islamabad on using "common sense" (archived link). Pakistan said 40 civilians and 11 military service members had died in the fighting, and India said 15 of its civilians and five soldiers had died (archived link). The circulating videos were also shared in similar Facebook and X posts. While Pakistan claimed it had downed five Indian warplanes, the footage circulating online was in fact taken from a video game. Created from Arma 3 A combination of keyword searches and reverse image searches using keyframes from the first falsely shared video led to a higher-definition clip shared on Facebook on April 19. "This is my own video created from a game called Arma 3," the user told AFP on Facebook Messenger on May 10, adding it was "unrelated to the current war". Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the Facebook video from April 2025 (right) Arma 3, a tactical shooter simulation created by Czech video game developer Bohemia Interactive, allows players to create their own combat simulations using realistic military gear (archived link). Gameplay footage from Arma 3 has previously been misrepresented in posts linking it to fighting in the Middle East. Bohemia Interactive also warned in October 2023 that footage from its game was being used to spread misinformation (archived link). Separate keyword searches and reverse image searches using keyframes from the second falsely shared video led to the same clip published on Instagram on March 30 (archived link). The account regularly shares military content and video game footage. Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely share video (left) and the Instagram clip from March 2025 (right) Bohemia Interactive's public relations manager Pavel Krizka told AFP the clip was taken from their game. "This video features Arma 3 gameplay footage," he said in an emailed response on May 13, and reminded social media users, media and government organisations to always check their sources. The conflict between India and Pakistan has triggered a wave of misinformation, some of which AFP has debunked here.
