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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.

5,848 published reviews in this topic

PolitiFactWar & conflict

Ethnic Russians face “genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.”

Publisher’s rating: False

Related reporting discusses the allegation that Ukraine was committing genocide against ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. Carnegie Endowment’s account says Moscow used that claim to justify intervention, describing it as “a baseless claim that Ukraine was committing genocide against ethnic Russians in its eastern oblasts.” The excerpt therefore supports treating the allegation as a Russian justification for action, not as an established finding that genocide was occurring. A Boston Review excerpt describes the same narrative in the context of Russia’s 2022 invasion and occupation of southeastern Ukraine. It says Russian messaging portrayed Russian speakers in the east as facing “genocide” at Kyiv’s hands and framed Russia as intervening to stop it. The excerpt characterizes this as propaganda; it does not present evidence that the alleged genocide occurred. These excerpts concern the substance of the claim, but they are related reporting, not the original PolitiFact review. They provide no account of PolitiFact’s checking methods or full evidentiary analysis, so this explanation is limited to what the supplied reporting states.

FactCheck.orgWar & conflict

Claimed Ukraine "got all" of its U.S. security assistance "long before schedule."

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned President Donald Trump’s Jan. 22, 2020, assertion that Ukraine had received all its U.S. security assistance “long before schedule.” The review examined fiscal year 2019 assistance, for which Congress authorized $391 million in security aid. The Defense Department was responsible for $250 million under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, while the State Department received $141.5 million for Foreign Military Financing. The departments were supposed to spend the funds by Sept. 30, 2019. The evidence shows a delay in the Defense Department’s portion. After announcing its plan for the $250 million in June, the department’s aid was put on hold at Trump’s direction in July. The White House released the money on Sept. 11, but the Defense Department had to wait another 15 days before it could begin obligating it, leaving too little time to spend all of it by the original fiscal-year deadline. Congress then extended the deadline for unspent funds. The State Department’s $141.5 million, by contrast, was obligated before Sept. 30, according to a letter from OMB general counsel Mark Paoletta. The review cites both testimony and subsequent reporting on the Defense Department funds: OMB official Mark Sandy said about $35 million remained unobligated, and the Los Angeles Times reported that funds remained unspent and that about $20 million in aid still had not reached Ukraine in December. A Pentagon spokesperson later said that, as of Jan. 23, the department had executed 99.8% of its funds and was working to obligate the remainder. That later progress does not establish that all the money arrived ahead of schedule; the documented delay and need for an extension contradict that claim.

PolitiFactWar & conflict

Gen. Soleimani "killed hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of Americans."

Publisher’s rating: Real numbers less dramatic

Related reporting provides the transcript of Trump’s Feb. 24, 2026, State of the Union address, the setting for the claim. In the excerpt, Trump says Iran’s regime and its proxies “have killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people,” then refers to roadside bombs and says, “And we took out Soleimani.” The excerpt places these statements together but does not say that Soleimani personally killed all the people included in the larger figures. The transcript identifies the general as Soleimani, whom Trump says he killed during his first term, and describes him as “the father of the roadside bomb.” It therefore supports that Trump linked Soleimani to the roadside-bomb discussion, while distinguishing that from his broader figures about deaths attributed to the regime and its proxies. The supplied material does not include PolitiFact’s original review or independent evidence establishing casualty totals, so it cannot substantiate a more precise accounting of Soleimani’s responsibility.