Images from the videogame Arma 3 have been shared online as if depicting the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
One iteration (here) was viewed over 37,000 times. It carried the description “Russia Fighter Jets on Ukraine F22 Raptor Vs Anti Aircraft Missiles.”
Another version (here) had a description reading, “OMG!!! Russia just attacked Ukraine! Look at this footage BREAKING NEWS: RUSSIA JUST ATTACKED UKRAINE!”
The imagery style and red colors of the gun fire in both livestreams resemble the footage from videogame Arma 3 (here), (here), (youtu.be/Q9XDRviA-ic), (youtu.be/5nrb59rGiDc?t=314).
Arma 3 is a military simulator videogame developed by Bohemia Interactive (www.arma3.com/). It is not the first time that footage from this game is mislabeled as if to show real world conflict, including in Ukraine (here).
Reuters has also addressed Arma 3 simulations miscaptioned as scenes of gunfire in Israel (here), (here), or claiming to show the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan (here).
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. This footage is not authentic imagery of the Russian invasion in Ukraine in Feb. 2022, it comes from videogame Arma 3.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.