Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an emotional video has gone viral on social media showing two men in combat uniform apparently embracing their partners who are seen crying. Social media users claim that the men seen in the video are Ukrainian soldiers saying goodbye to their wives before leaving for the war with Russians.
The video is viral on Twitter with several users sharing it as authentic. One of the captions with the video reads “This is so sad Ukraine soldiers leaning their wives for war. Some will not come home again for sure”. The video with the same claim is viral on Facebook as well.
Archive of the tweet can be seen here.
Archive of the tweet can be seen here.
Russia attacked its neighbour Ukraine on Thursday after the announcement of President Vladimir Putin that he is launching a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Soon after, sounds of explosions were heard in different parts of Ukraine as Russian forces started targeting the country with airstrikes. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday the Russians have entered the country’s capital Kiev. He also claimed that 137 civilians and troops have been killed so far in the clash.
Fact Check/Verification
Newschecker conducted a reverse image search on the video using In-Vid, but couldn’t find anything concrete. However, we noticed that some users in the comment section of the viral posts wrote that the viral video is not real but scripted and a part of a movie named “The War of Chimeras”.
Users also posted the YouTube link of the trailer of this movie in which similar scenes to the viral video can be seen after 20 seconds.
The trailer was uploaded by a YouTube channel ‘Geomovies’ on Oct 30, 2018. The trailer clearly suggested that it’s a movie, directed by Anastasiia Starozhytska & Mariia Starozhytska.
Another YouTube channel called “Mawkiho Production” had also uploaded some parts of the movie in April 2018. The beginning of this video shows the exact visuals seen in the viral video.
“The War of Chimeras” is a Ukrainian movie, released in March 2017. The film is based on a love story revolving around a couple amid the war in Ukraine.
Conclusion
It is confirmed that a part of a movie, showing soldiers embracing their partners, is being passed off as authentic visuals in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Result: False Context/False
Sources
YouTube video by Mawkiho Production
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Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
