Skip to main content

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

FACTLYWar & conflict

Visuals showing the police atrocities on unarmed Kuki-ZO villagers in Manipur

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing police atrocities against unarmed Kuki-Zo villagers in Manipur. FACTLY’s review identifies the footage as showing a different incident: security personnel beating workers of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) during the 2022 Manipur Assembly elections. The review says the workers were allegedly involved in vandalising an electronic voting machine at a polling booth, rather than being Kuki-Zo villagers targeted in the 2023 violence. To investigate the footage’s provenance, the review says it examined the video in detail, slowing it down and noting that some armed men and people being beaten wore masks. It treated that observation as a clue that the footage might predate the later violence, then searched for additional information about the original video. The review reports that BOOM, working with independent journalist Linda Chhakchhuak, had found a video with identical visuals. The matching video was titled “MLA ELECTION 2nd phase Amun:42/13 saibol polling station, Tengnoupal AC*” and was uploaded in March 2022. The review also reports that news accounts said six NPF workers were arrested by Tengnoupal police over alleged destruction of an EVM and disruption of polling at a polling centre in Tengnoupal Assembly Constituency. This provenance places the footage in an election-related incident in 2022, not the claimed police atrocities against Kuki-Zo villagers. The review concludes that the video was falsely attributed to the later violence.

dpaWar & conflict

Au Japon, un panneau publicitaire affiche « arrêtez la guerre - arrêtez Zelensky ».

Publisher’s rating: Non. Il s'agit d'un montage vidéo. L'extrait, manipulé, provient d'une séquence plus longue qui existe depuis au moins 2020.

The claim concerns a widely shared video purporting to show a Tokyo billboard with the message “Stop the war, stop Zelensky.” The investigation traced the clip to a longer YouTube video uploaded on October 19, 2020, by the account Virtual Japan. That video, titled “balade de nuit à Shibuya,” shows a night walk in Tokyo. The review reports that the original footage shows an unrelated advertisement on the panel, rather than the political slogan. To compare the footage, the investigators examined the original video at 20:50 and 21:20 and matched the intersection, camera movements, background sound, cars, and pedestrians with the circulated excerpt. They also identified the filming location near the Taito metro station using Google Street View. The review describes these correspondences as evidence that the manipulated clip was taken from the 2020 recording, with the billboard altered to display the false slogan. The investigation also cites the background movie posters as a chronological check: they advertise two films released in 2020, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. This supports the conclusion that the footage predates the claimed wartime message; the review’s account of the original panel and the matching scene indicates that the slogan was added to the video rather than displayed in the filmed street scene.

dpaWar & conflict

Drohnenaufnahmen zeigen, wie sich die ersten Truppenverbände kampflos ergeben und mit weißer Fahne am Panzer auf die russische Armee zufahren.

Publisher’s rating: Die Videobeschreibung ist falsch. Der Clip zeigt einen Gefangenenaustausch zwischen der ukrainischen Armee und der russischen Wagner-Gruppe nahe der Stadt Bachmut, über den am 25. Mai 2023 berichtet wurde.

The claim attached to the footage said that drone images showed the first Ukrainian troop formations surrendering without a fight and driving toward Russian forces with a white flag on a tank. The dpa review describes the video as showing at least 50 people, apparently soldiers, and at least a dozen armored vehicles on a road between fields; white flags are visible on most of the vehicles. It concludes that the footage does not show troops surrendering, but an organized exchange of prisoners of war near Bakhmut involving the Ukrainian army and Russia’s Wagner Group. To trace the footage, the review says a reverse image search led to very similar scenes on the British newspaper The Telegraph’s YouTube channel, published on May 26, 2023. The accompanying description and article identify the scene as a prisoner exchange. The dpa review says the white flags, puddles, and a distinctive depression on a side road beside the convoy are visible features linking the scenes. The review also reports corroboration of the exchange from Ukrainian sources: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, presidential office head Andriy Yermak, and Ukraine’s coordination body for prisoners of war posted about it on Telegram on May 25, 2023. According to the review, those reports said 106 Ukrainian soldiers who had fought in Bakhmut returned home. It adds that Russian sources also reported the exchange, while noting that the number of Russian soldiers involved had not been publicly disclosed. The footage therefore depicts a prisoner exchange, not the surrender described in the social-media caption.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Visuals depicting Russian missiles taking down two British cargo ships transporting high explosives to Ukraine

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video compilation circulated as footage of Russian missiles striking two British cargo ships carrying high explosives to Ukraine, allegedly at the port of Odesa. FACTLY’s review says the visuals do not show that event: they are old footage of the August 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port. The review also reports that its search found no reports of Russian missiles destroying the alleged ships near Odesa. Its conclusion therefore rests on both identifying the visuals as footage of a different, earlier disaster and finding no reporting to substantiate the claimed attack. To investigate the footage’s origin, FACTLY says it conducted a reverse image search, which led to news reports featuring similar images. Those reports identified the images with the Beirut explosion. The review describes that disaster as a chemical explosion at the port that caused widespread devastation and more than 150 deaths. It says a fire in a warehouse where hazardous ammonium nitrate had been stored for an extended period initiated the explosion. The review further says that other news reports and social media posts containing similar visuals also connected them to the 2020 Beirut explosion. It notes that its search did not find reports of the claimed Russian attack. The evidence presented thus supports the finding that the shared visuals were misattributed; it does not establish that no maritime attack could occur, but the review provides no corroboration for this particular claim.