Amidst the ongoing Russian military offensive in Ukraine, a video and a set of photos have emerged on social media with the claim that Ukrainian citizens have destroyed two Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) in Kyiv.
Ukrainian citizens destroy 2 Russian tanks with molotov cocktails in Kiev #Ukraine #UkraineUnderAttack #Kiev #Russia pic.twitter.com/zXLfaMcN3a
— ZeroPark30 (@ZeroPark30) February 26, 2022
Ukrainian citizens destroy 2 Russian tanks with molotov cocktails in Kiev #Ukraine #UkraineUnderAttack #Kiev #Russia pic.twitter.com/tYCIH4jWOz
— Alex (@Alerez14) February 26, 2022
The video was picked up by Assamese News Channel DY365 and was posted on Twitter with its watermark.
#RussianInfantry #RussiaUkraineWar #Ukraine #Russia #Kiyv #UkraineRussia #UkraineUnderAttack #UkraineWar #DY365
ইউক্ৰেইনে ধংস কৰিলে ৰাছিয়াৰ ইনফেট্ৰী pic.twitter.com/oDE5cCbYXS— DY365 (@DY365) February 26, 2022
The video is also viral on Facebook.
A set of photos claiming to be visuals from the incident are also in circulation.
Ukrainian citizens destroy 2 Russian tanks with molotov cocktails(Petrol, Gasoline) in Kiev. They are using the guerrilla war tactics to counter russian army in their capital. Salute your courage✊ #Ukraine #UkraineUnderAttack #Kiev #RussiaUkraineWar #Kyiv #StopRussianAggression pic.twitter.com/jkzKAfM1uW
— @qiб (@_Imaqib_) February 26, 2022
Ukrainian citizens destroy 2 Russian tanks with molotov cocktails(Petrol, Gasoline) in Kiev. They are using the guerrilla war tactics to counter russian army in their capital. Salute your courage✊ #Ukraine #UkraineUnderAttack #Kiev #RussiaUkraineWar #Kyiv #StopRussianAggression pic.twitter.com/utBfbd1Ybz
— Devil 😈😈 (@Devil_7892) February 26, 2022
Old images and videos
We took the captions as a clue and performed a keyword search on YouTube in the Russian language. This led us to a video posted on the platform on February 20, 2014.
Upon close observation, we noticed that it is a video of the same incident recorded from a different angle:
- A Ukrainian flag is visible in both videos.
- The words written on one of the buildings is legible.
- Two armoured vehicles can be seen catching fire, which is similar to what was claimed in the viral tweets.
Taking this as a clue, we performed another keyword search in the Russian language and came across a video uploaded on February 24, 2014. It is the same video that is being shared on Twitter as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. This itself proves that the video is unrelated to the Ukraine crisis.
As for the photos, all of them turned out to be from 2014.
The first image is from an anti-government protest in Kyiv in 2014 and is available on Getty Images.
The second image is also from 2014 and can be found on a news report by Independent UK. The image is credited to European Pressphoto Agency (EPA).
The third image can be found on the website of the American photographer Brendan Hoffman.
For the last image, the top left corner gives credit to journalist Ilya Varlamov. We performed a keyword search using his name and found the same image on his blog from 2014.
Hence, videos and images from the 2014 anti-government protest in Ukraine were shared as visuals from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.
