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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.

5,847 published reviews in this topic

Rumor ScannerWar & conflict

সত্যিকারের নেতা কখনো জাতিকে যুদ্ধের ময়দানে ছেড়ে দিয়ে পালিয়ে যায়না। সবাই যখন নিরবে তখন নিজেই যুদ্ধের পথে। ইউক্রেনের প্রেসিডেন্ট জেলনস্কি নিজেই সামরিক পোশাক পড়ে রাশিয়ান সেনাদের প্রতিরোধে মাঠে নেমেছেন

Publisher’s rating: False

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaWar & conflict

රුසියාවට එරෙහිව ආයුධ අතට ගත් යුක්රේන් දරුවන්ගේ ඡායාරූප පෙළක් ?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review investigated social-media photographs presented as showing Ukrainian child soldiers taking up arms to defend their country during the Russian invasion. It reports using Google Reverse Image Search to trace the images and found that they came from 2015 and 2017—not from the current invasion. The review describes them as photographs of short training activities for children in eastern Ukraine, organized by Azov, an armed group associated with Ukrainian security forces. That history changes what the photographs establish. The review says the activity could be considered military-style training, but that the children were not being recruited into the security forces. It also says the images mostly show wooden gun models rather than real firearms. Thus the photographs do depict children in military-style clothing and training, but the review says they do not show children joining the fighting in the current war. The review further distinguishes the photographs’ origins: it attributes the 2017 images to an Associated Press photographer and says the 2015 images were taken by a photographer working with European Pressphoto Agency. Its conclusion is that presenting these older training photographs as evidence of child soldiers participating in the current Russia-Ukraine war is misleading.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Picture of the day: A man draped in the Ukrainian flag embraces a woman wearing the Russian flag

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLY examined the specific image described as showing a man draped in the Ukrainian flag embracing a woman wearing the Russian flag. The review’s key finding is that the photo was not taken during the then-current Russia–Ukraine crisis: it identifies the image in a Washington Post article from December 2019, predating the crisis described in the post.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Picture of a child injured in the attacks on Ukraine

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned a picture presented as showing a child injured in attacks on Ukraine during the 2022 Russia–Ukraine crisis. FACTLY’s review says the image was not from Ukraine: it showed a child injured in attacks in Syria. The review’s conclusion was that the claim linking this image to Ukraine was misleading. [S1]

FACTLYWar & conflict

Recent heartbreaking video of Ukrainian soldiers

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLY examined a video shared as “Recent heartbreaking video of Ukrainian soldiers” amid Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Its investigation found that the video was not recent: similar visuals appeared in the trailer for the documentary film *The War of Chimeras* (2017). The review reports that the documentary was filmed during 2014–15, and says similar footage from 2014 showed Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine. Thus, the visuals were Ukrainian, but the investigation found they did not depict the current crisis. The review’s conclusion rests on matching the circulated footage to earlier film material and locating similar visuals from years before the claim’s setting. [S1: “Post 1:Claim: Recent heartbreaking video of Ukrainian soldiers.Fact: The posted video is not a recent one. Similar visuals can be found in the trailer of a documentary film called ‘The War of Chimeras’ (2017).”] [S1: “The documentary film was reportedly shot during the years 2014-15. Similar visuals from 2014 can be seen here. The visuals are from Sofia square in Kiev (Ukraine), but are not related to the current crisis.”]

dpaWar & conflict

Video toont hoe Russische soldaten met parachutes landen in Oekraïne.

Publisher’s rating: De parachutisten zijn hoogstwaarschijnlijk Russen, maar de video is niet recent. Het circuleert al zeker sinds 2016 online.

The review examined a video posted with claims that it showed Russian soldiers landing in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. It reports that the footage shows dozens of parachutists jumping from an aircraft and landing, but asks whether it depicts the current situation in Ukraine on the day Russian forces entered the country. Its investigation found that the video was already circulating years earlier, so it could not show that day’s invasion. To trace the footage, the review describes using reverse image search and finding the same video on a Russian website in March 2019. It also found the identical video and caption in a tweet dated 4 September 2016, and an earlier post by a Russian Facebook page. That page claimed the footage showed 2,000 Russian paratroopers in Rostov, Russia, and dated it to 2014. The review says the older posts do not establish the footage’s precise date, but concludes it most likely shows Russian parachutists in 2014 or 2016—not a landing in Ukraine during the 2022 invasion.

BuzzFeed JapanWar & conflict

「ロシアの侵攻から逃れるウクライナ人の少女と、国を守るために残った父親の別れ」と拡散の動画

Publisher’s rating: 根拠不明

The video circulated with the claim that a Ukrainian father was saying goodbye to his daughter as she fled Russia’s invasion, while he stayed to defend the country. BuzzFeed Japan traced the footage to an earlier appearance on Telegram: it was already posted by February 21, before Russia’s military operation began on February 24. The review says the account appeared to belong to an official in Horlivka, in eastern Ukraine, an area under pro-Russian control. The Telegram caption described a different scenario. It said the man was seeing his wife and daughter off as they evacuated to Russia, while he remained to defend the “republic” against Ukrainian forces; it also described Horlivka residents as fleeing what it called Ukrainian aggression. That account reverses the direction and cause of flight asserted in the widely shared version. The review cautions that the caption’s account is not independently established simply by its presence on the post. To assess provenance, BuzzFeed News checked the video’s metadata, which gave a creation date of February 21, and identified an advertisement in the background as belonging to a taxi company based in Horlivka. The review concludes that the footage was likely filmed in pro-Russian-controlled territory and that its attribution to Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion is not supported by clear evidence. It does not establish the identities of the people shown or definitively verify the Telegram caption’s account.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of a Russian aircraft shot down by the Ukraine Military

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLY’s review addresses the specific post claiming that a video shows a Russian aircraft shot down by the Ukraine Military. It says the footage was not taken in either Russia or Ukraine, and instead shows an old incident related to China. On that basis, the review concludes that the post’s claim is misleading. As supporting provenance, FACTLY says it found the same visuals in a Daily Mail article published in 2020. The article’s heading described social-media footage of a crashed plane on fire and reported that Taiwan denied shooting down a Chinese Su-35 fighter jet. This evidence links the visuals to an earlier China-related incident, rather than the Russian aircraft incident asserted in the post. The excerpt does not provide further verification details about the footage or the underlying incident.