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FACT BRIEF

Does a viral video show a destroyed city in Ukraine during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict?

By Christiana Dillard
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NO

A video used in a viral social media post to show the "present situation" in Ukraine is footage from at least as far back as 2020, which seems to show the aftermath of explosions in Lebanon.

Although Lead Stories could not determine the origin of the video, several other versions of the video were posted online in 2020. The captions of these videos all claim that the footage shows the aftermath of a pair of explosions at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon. Those explosions took place on Aug. 4, 2020, and killed more than 200 people.

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine began in late February 2022, much later than the aforementioned appearances of the video online. While there have been several destructive attacks on Ukraine from Russia, this video is not representative of that conflict.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
CNN What we still don't know about Beirut's port explosion
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.