Old video of Russian paratroopers jumping from plane shared with false claim about 'invasion of Ukraine'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 25, 2022 at 10:10
- 2 min read
- By AFP Bulgaria, AFP Germany, AFP Singapore
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The 45-second video was posted here on Facebook on February 24, 2022.
It has been viewed more than 56,000 times.
"BREAKING; Russian military paratroopers landed in Ukraine, near Kharkov", reads the caption, which uses an alternative spelling for Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv.
The video has been viewed more than 1.1 million times alongside a similar claim after it was also shared here, here and here on Facebook; here and here on Instagram; here and here on TikTok; here on Twitter; and here on YouTube.
It has also circulated in multiple languages, including Malaysian, Bulgarian, German, Chinese, Burmese, Hindi and Arabic.
Kharkiv has come under sustained bombardment since February 24, 2022, with the sounds of shelling and explosions heard in the city, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of the country.
There have also been reports of Russian paratroopers being deployed to take control of strategic locations.
However, the video shared in the misleading posts has been circulating online since at least 2014.
A reverse image search found this slightly longer video posted by a user of the Russian social network VKontakte on March 14, 2014.
The same user posted two other images on March 13, 2014 showing men in military gear with the caption: "Landing near Rostov in the city of Taganrog ... two jumps per day".
Taganrog is a city located in the Rostov region of southwestern Russia; it is about 31 miles (50 kilometres) east of the Ukrainian border.
The Russian Defence Ministry made this announcement dated March 13, 2014 that a military exercise was conducted at the Kuzminka training range. Kuzminka is about 22 miles (36km) northeast of Taganrog.
Below are screenshot comparisons of the video in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the 2014 video posted on VKontakte (right):
Russia's TASS news agency reported here on the major military exercise, which it said would end on March 14, 2014.
AFP has debunked various online misinformation relating to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
