In just the last 48 hours dozens of stories, images, narratives and videos have circulated as being taken from the fighting in Ukraine, a huge percentage of which are fake.
Now, some of it could be attributed to misunderstandings, mistaken identity, misattribution…but many and most are likely deliberate deceptions designed to provoke a response. Let’s dive right in.
1. “THE GHOST OF KIEV”
Early Friday morning it was reported that a single Ukrainian plane, a MiG-29, was patrolling the skies above Kiev. The English speaking press called the unnamed pilot “The Ghost of Kiev”, and claimed he had downed 6 Russian jets in air-to-air combat in less than 2 days, making him an official Fighter Ace, and probably one of the fastest to ever earn that title.
The trouble is there is almost no evidence this happened at all. To
quote Newsweek:
There is zero evidence the “Ghost of Kyiv” exists”.
Neither side can confirm Russia has lost six planes in total, let alone to one man inside a single day. And a video alleged to be “the Ghost” in combat – shared by the Ukrainian Armed Forces – is confirmed to
actually be footage
taken from a video game.
Nevertheless, he already has his own Wikipedia page. A testament to how fast a lie can move while the truth is putting its boots on.
Neither side can confirm Russia has lost six planes in total, let alone to one man inside a single day. And a video alleged to be “the Ghost” in combat – shared by the Ukrainian Armed Forces – is confirmed to
actually be footage
taken from a video game.
Nevertheless, he already has his own Wikipedia page. A testament to how fast a lie can move while the truth is putting its boots on.
2. “RUSSIAN PLANES FLYING OVER KIEV”
A lot of people have been sharing
a short video of Russian planes allegedly flying low over the city of Kiev. The Times used it a still from it in their story
“Will sanctions stop a Russian shell?”:
The problem with that is it’s not Kiev, it’s Moscow. And it’s not today, it’s two years ago. It’s footage of what is likely a rehearsal for the 2020 Victory Day Parade flyover.
3. “ZELENSKIY VISITING THE TROOPS”
Possibly no politician in history has had a PR makeover quite as fast as Vlodomyr Zelenskiy. Last week he was just some guy, this week he’s a war hero, there’s talk of building statues of the man. A (not at all staged) “leaked” phone call had him turning down the US offer of an airlift to safety.
Twitter is dotted with people sharing photos of him in combat fatigues, comparing him favourably to Trump and Trudeau and asking
“what other leaders would fight alongside their troops?”
But the problem with that is the photos are all almost a year old, taken when he visited the troops
last April:
4. “LUHANSK POWER STATION EXPLOSION”
Early on in the confrontation, this video started doing the rounds on social media:
The video went viral,
receiving 100,000s of views. Hundreds of accounts shared it, even
major news networks used it, all claiming it shows a power station in Luhansk exploding after being hit with Russian missiles.
It does not, it’s a chemical plant exploding in
Tianjin, China in 2015.
5. VIDEO GAMES. AGAIN.
This footage, claiming to show Ukrainian ground forces downing Russian aircraft, also went viral recently, even appearing on Spanish
television news:
It’s from the video game
ARMA 3.
