Clip shows memorial for fallen soldier, not Zelensky's return from Washington
- Published on March 11, 2025 at 09:43
- 3 min read
- By AFP Thailand
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"Ukraine citizens bowing to their President Zelensky on his return," reads a Burmese-language Facebook post on March 2, 2025.
It includes a 59-second clip, overlaid with text stating a similar claim, showing a crowd getting on their knees on a roadside as vehicles pass through. The video has since been viewed more than 13,000 times.
Similar posts spread on Facebook after Trump berated Zelensky as they sat in the Oval Office, telling the Ukrainian president that he either "make a deal" with Russia "or we're out". Trump suspended military aid to Kyiv days after the stunning public clash (archived here and here).
Washington has been Ukraine's most important military backer since Russia invaded in February 2022. Ukraine said it was in talks with Europe on filling the gap and wanted to negotiate with Trump over the arms halt (archived link).
However, the video has been misrepresented and was earlier debunked by Burmese local fact-check organisation Boom Myanmar (archived link).
A reverse image search of the circulating video's keyframes found longer footage on Facebook on January 23, several weeks before Trump and Zelensky's meeting (archived link).
According to the clip's caption, it depicts a motorcade for a fallen soldier held on day in Ukraine's Sokal city. A scene excluded in the false posts at the 1:25 mark shows one of the vehicles carrying a coffin draped with Ukraine's flag.
Details in the Facebook post correspond to an announcement from the Sokal city about the funeral for a soldier named Polishuk Taras Olegovych. He died during a combat mission in the war with Russia, the council separately said (archived here and here).
According to the post, the procession happened near the Church of Peter and Paul. Using this information, AFP was able to confirm the location of the video by comparing it with street imagery from Google Maps (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to the Russia-Ukraine war here, here and here.
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