A video showing aircraft flying in formation over tall buildings has been falsely linked to the 2022 Ukraine crisis. However, Reuters has traced the video back to at least 2020, when it was posted to YouTube as part of a Russian air show.
The clip has been posted on Facebook (here) by a verified news outlet with more than 1.5 million followers and has been viewed almost 6,500 times.
Its caption reads: “Russia-Ukraine war update: Russian fighter jets enter Ukraine, destroy Ukraine’s airbases, air defences. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine.”
Other iterations of the video have been shared (here, here, here, here and here) and have amassed tens of thousands of views.
It has also been posted on Twitter (here or perma.cc/WR4Q-EYKH), where it has been watched more than 100,000 times.
However, the same clip can be seen in this YouTube video here that was uploaded on May 4, 2020. The original YouTube clip is titled: “Flyby Moscow (May 04, 2020)”.
It is said to show a number of flyovers of the Russian capital in preparation for the city’s May 9 Victory Day airshows.
Other videos uploaded to YouTube on May 4, 2020, show similar footage of Russian aircraft flying over the Russian capital. For example, this Moscow Times video (here) shows planes flying in similar formations as part of the Victory Day Rehearsal.
The latest Reuters reporting on the developing situation in Ukraine can be viewed (www.reuters.com/places/ukraine).
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The footage is not from 2022. It can be traced back to at least May 2020 and is said to be linked to a Russian air show.
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.