This video of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in face-off is from 2014

by Kinjal

Against the backdrop of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, a video is being circulated that shows two groups of people dressed in army uniforms, with one of the officers on one side holding a Ukrainian flag and a soldier from the other side holding a gun. It has been claimed that the video shows Ukrainian and Russian soldiers facing off in the ongoing conflict.

Twitter use Ikhlaque Siddiqui shared the clip with the same claim. It garnered more than 45,000 views as of this writing. (Archive link)

Twitter handle ‘@z4iks’ also promoted the video, claiming that the Ukrainian army went to confront Russian troops without weapons. (Archive link)

The visuals have been shared on Facebook and Twitter as recent.

Video from 2014

We performed a keyword search and came across a YouTube video posted by Channel 4 News in March 2014. Scenes from the viral visuals appear after the 1:03 mark in this report. It is mentioned that Ukrainian and Russian soldiers came face to face in Ukraine’s Belbek. Furthermore, Ukrainian troops marched up to the Russian-controlled Belbek Airbase in the territory of Crimea.

BBC News Turkey also covered the development in a video report dated March 4, 2014.

Reporting on the incident, the Irish Mirror stated that one soldier standing guard at the airbase in Crimea even threatened to shoot the legs of the 300 Ukrainian soldiers approaching their position.

To sum it up, an eight-year-old video of Ukrainian and Russian troops facing off was falsely circulated as visuals from the ongoing conflict.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.