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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,837 published reviews in this topic

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaWar & conflict

පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව චැනල් 4 සැකසූ වාර්තාමය වැඩසටහන අන්තර්ජාලයෙන් ඉවත්කරගෙන නැහැ !

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a specific rumour circulating after Channel 4 broadcast its documentary about the Easter attacks: that the channel had removed the programme from the internet. The review says that social-media posts made that allegation within hours of the broadcast. Its conclusion was that the allegation was false, because the programme was still available on Channel 4’s website when the review’s investigation was conducted. The review also reports that it found no announcement of a removal by Channel 4 or coverage of such a removal by recognised local or international mainstream media. [S1: “සැප්තැම්බර මස 5 වන දා රාත්‍රියේ දී (ලංකාවේ වේලාවෙන් පසුදින අළුයම), චැනල් 4 නාලිකාව විසින් විකාශය කරන ලද ලංකාවේ පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව වාර්තාමය වැඩසටහන බොහෝ දෙනාගේ අවධානයට ලක්වුණා.”; “නමුත් එහිදී අපට දක්නට ලැබුණේ එවන් පුවතක් පළව නොමැති බවයි.”; “චැනල් 4 වෙබ් අඩවියේ පවතිනවා.”] To check the central claim, the reviewers say they visited Channel 4’s official website and found the video there. They also report testing access from outside the UK using a VPN, since the website’s video was available only to UK internet users; in that check, they could still view a 47-minute version. The review further notes a short video posted on the Facebook page for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, with a description linking to the full programme. These checks support the narrower finding that the documentary remained available through Channel 4’s site at the time examined, notwithstanding geographic access restrictions. [S1: “අදාළ වීඩියෝව චැනල් 4 වෙබ් අඩවියේ දක්නට ලැබෙන බවයි”; “චැනල් 4 වෙබ් අඩවියේ පළවන වීඩියෝ , වෙබ් අඩවිය තුලින් නැරඹිය හැක්කේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අන්තර්ජාල පරිශීලකයන්ට පමණයි.”; “VPN වැනි ක්‍රම භාවිතාකර වෙනත් භූ ගෝලීය කලාපවල අයටද එම වෙබ් අඩවිය ඔස්සේ වීඩියෝව නැරඹිය හැකි අතර අප ද ඒ ආකාරයට සිදුකළ පරික්ෂාවේ දී ද විනාඩි 47ක වීඩියෝව මේ වන විටත් එම වෙබ් අඩවියේ පළ වී තිබෙනු දැක ගන්නට ලැබුණි.”] The review also addresses claims that Channel 4 had shortened or edited the programme, based on a roughly 50-minute version shared on Facebook compared with the website’s 47:09 video. It says the longer version was the television broadcast with advertisements: three breaks accounted for more than three minutes in total. That comparison therefore does not, on the evidence described, show that the programme had been removed or that substantive sections were cut. The review’s finding is time-specific: it says the documentary was still on Channel 4’s site when the review was written. [S1: “Channel4 වෙබ් අඩවියේ වීඩියෝවේ වෙලාව විනාඩි 47:09 ක් බැවින් , විනාඩි 50 :32 වීඩියෝවේ වෙනත් වීඩියෝ කොටස් අන්තර්ගත වෙනවා ද යන්න අප පරික්ෂා කළ අතර”; “මෙම වෙනසට හේතුව සජීවී වීඩියෝවේ දක්වා තිබෙන්නේ චැනල් 4 රුපවාහිනී වැඩසටහනේ, වෙළඳ දැන්වීම් ද සහිතව පළවූ වීඩියෝව හේතුවෙන් බවයි.”; “මෙම විනාඩි දැන්වීම් 3 හිම එකතුව විනාඩි 3 කට වැඩි වෙලාවක් ගන්නා අතර”]

El Detector / Univision NoticiasWar & conflict

"Putin pide perdón al mundo y suplica a Ucrania terminar con la guerra".

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a Facebook video titled “Putin asks the world for forgiveness and begs Ukraine to end the war,” which said Vladimir Putin made those remarks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on September 4, 2023. The review found that the video’s description of the press conference was false: Putin did not apologize for the war or plead with Zelensky to negotiate. (“Un video publicado el lunes 4 de septiembre de 2023 en Facebook asegura que el mandatario ruso, Vladimir Putin, pidió ‘perdón al mundo por la guerra en Ucrania’ y ‘le suplicó al presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr Zelensky, que por favor se siente con él’ a negociar.”; “Sin embargo, esto es falso, pues en esa comparecencia Putin solamente mencionó que su país no rechaza negociar sobre el conflicto ucraniano.”) To check what was actually said, the review reports watching the full joint press conference and comparing it with the English transcript on the Kremlin’s website. It says the video and transcript agreed on the substance and contained neither the alleged plea nor an apology. The statement about Ukraine that Putin did make was that Russia had not refused, and would not refuse, negotiations. (“en elDetector revisamos el video completo de la rueda de prensa de Putin y el mandatario turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan del 4 de septiembre, transmitida por France24, y también leímos la transcripción en inglés de la misma en la página del Kremlin. Encontramos que ambas coinciden (salvo algunos detalles de traducción, no de fondo) y que en ninguna de ellas se recoge una ‘súplica’ de Putin a Zelensky para negociar ni un pedido de perdón al mundo por la guerra en Ucrania.”; “La frase que sí pronunció Putin respecto al conflicto ucraniano, y que también recoge el video que estamos verificando, dice: ‘Rusia nunca ha rechazado las negociaciones y no las rechazará ahora tampoco’.”) As additional checks, the review says it searched Google News for the alleged apology and plea but found no recent reporting of those statements; searches instead surfaced videos containing Putin’s actual remarks about negotiations. Its conclusion rests on both that search and comparison of the press-conference recording with the transcript—not on the absence of coverage alone. (“en elDetector hicimos varias búsquedas por palabras clave en inglés en la sección de noticias de Google y no encontramos ninguna nota que recogiera las palabras supuestamente pronunciadas por Putin.”; “Sin embargo, búsquedas en la sección de noticias de Google no arrojan resultados de notas periodísticas que recojan esas palabras, y en elDetector tampoco las encontramos al escuchar la rueda de prensa conjunta de Putin y Erdogan ni al revisar la transcripción de la misma en la página del Kremlin.”)

المشاهدWar & conflict

منع سفينتين من نهب 40 ألف طن من الغاز من ميناء عدن

Publisher’s rating: مضلل

The claim circulated after Houthi political council head Mahdi al-Mashat spoke in Amran on August 30, 2023. It said forces had stopped the vessels “Sinmar Regent” and “Bolivar” from taking 40,000 tons of gas from Aden. The review checked the claim using ship-tracking data and analysis of Yemen’s gas-export infrastructure, rather than relying only on the public statements repeating it. The review says Yemen’s liquefied natural gas comes from fields in Marib and is transported through dedicated pipelines to the export terminal at Balhaf in Shabwa, not Aden. It reports that the terminal’s production and exports had been halted since April 2015 because of the security situation. This infrastructure evidence challenges the premise that the claimed gas cargo was being exported from Aden. The vessel records also conflict with the account. The review describes Bolivar as a gas carrier with a reported capacity of 6,036 tons, far below 40,000, and says FleetMon showed it moving between Sohar and Duqm in Oman without approaching Aden or reaching Yemen’s territorial waters in the second half of August. It reports that Sanmar Regent was in Port Sudan through August 24 before moving to Djibouti. Together, the reported cargo capacity and tracking histories do not support the claim that these two ships were stopped from taking 40,000 tons of gas from Aden.

Belarusian Investigative CenterWar & conflict

В Украине погибли более десяти тысяч польских добровольцев

Publisher’s rating: Министерство обороны Польши на запрос БРЦ ответило, что не располагает такой информацией. При этом отметив, что только 18 граждан Польши официально получили разрешение служить в рядах ВСУ.

dpaWar & conflict

Dit is een oude foto van het het soort vliegtuig wat de laser kan vervoeren om de brand te stichten met twee fotos van het gebruik.

Publisher’s rating: De foto's tonen een lancering van SpaceX in Californië en een gecontroleerde olieverbranding in Michigan, en hebben dan ook niets met de branden op Hawaï te maken. Er is geen enkele reden om aan te nemen dat de branden door een laserwapen zouden zijn veroorzaakt.

The claim links a photo of a laser-equipped aircraft, along with two other images, to the theory that a laser started the August 2023 fires in Hawaii. The review distinguishes the aircraft image from the two photos offered as evidence of a laser in action: it identifies the aircraft as a Boeing YAL-1, while reporting that the other images show events in California and Michigan, not Hawaii. The review says reverse image searches found that the two purported “laser” photos were online years before the Hawaii fires. One image had appeared on X in May 2018. Rather than showing something striking Earth, the image shows a SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The other photo was already online by at least January 17, 2018, and was also examined in a Snopes fact-check about a claim involving an energy weapon in Michigan. The review identifies it as a controlled oil-refinery burn in Michigan; the pillar-like effect in the image was attributed to cold weather. The aircraft photo does show a laser-related military test plane, but that fact does not establish that a laser caused the Hawaii fires. The review says the U.S. military built the Boeing YAL-1 to test whether lasers could intercept fired missiles. The aircraft served until 2010, the program was cancelled, and the plane was dismantled in 2014. The review reports no evidence supporting the claim that a laser weapon caused the fires, and finds that the images used to support it do not depict the Hawaii fires.

بيم ريبورتسWar & conflict

نقلت وول ستريت جورنال خبر حصول قائد فاغنر«بريغوجين» قبل وفاته على ذهب من الدعم السريع وطالب بالمزيد

Publisher’s rating: صحيح

The review examines whether the Wall Street Journal reported that Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin received gold from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and asked for more. It says Beam Reports searched the newspaper’s official website and found that it had published the account. The review places the reported encounter in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic: it says Prigozhin welcomed RSF leaders there, who delivered gold from a mine in Darfur. The quoted passage supports the specific claim about both the gold and the request for additional supplies: the review says that, as the gold was being handed over, Prigozhin said he needed more. It also reports that the Wall Street Journal linked Wagner’s supplies to the RSF’s battlefield advances against Sudan’s military government. The review notes that its rendering of the newspaper’s wording was based on Google Translate, so the quoted account is presented through that translation rather than as the original English text.