War in Ukraine: watch out for these old videos recycled online

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The invasion of Ukraine launched, Thursday, February 24 in the morning, by the President of the Russian FederationVladimir Poutine, caused an immense wave of indignation leading the Western countries to impose sanctions, which they promise unprecedented, against Russia and its economy.

The latest live information: Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, explosions in Kiev and several major cities

On social networks, as with every major crisis, many viral images have been diverted, in particular with the aim of influencing one side or the other. Here are several videos relayed in number in recent hours.

  • Russian planes “flying over Kiev”… filmed in Russia in 2020

“The war has begun. » “Fighter planes have arrived. » “Here is what is happening in Kiev this morning. » A video widely circulated online depicts alleged Russian fighter jets flying over buildings in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

But said video is not from today. It wasn’t even filmed in Ukraine. It is, in fact, a sequence filmed on April 5, 2020 in Russia, in Tushino (in the suburbs of Moscow), during the rehearsal of a military parade.

  • The explosion of a “Ukrainian power station”… which occurred in China in 2015

It is one of the most relayed videos after the announcement of the Russian invasion. In a viral tweet written in Englishwhose video has been viewed more than a hundred thousand times, and even more as it has been duplicated by other users on Twitter, an Internet user claims to document the fire started by a Russian airstrike at the power plant from Luhansk, Donbass.

Here again the video shows something quite different and date of 2015. These are actually images of the double explosion occurred in a warehouse containing flammable and toxic products in the port of Tianjin, in eastern China. The explosion of this factory had caused the death of nearly 170 people.

  • Paratroopers released in large numbers… during a 2014 military exercise

In another video widely shared on social networks, we can see hundreds of soldiers parachuted by plane, all filmed from the ground by an amateur camera present within the troops. If some of the viral tweets have been deletedothers are still online. “Russian paratroopers reportedly took control of Kiev airport”can we read on a French Twitter account. “Russian paratroopers landed on the territory of Ukraine, near Kharkiv”, writes another Twitter userin Turkish this time.

However, we find the trace of this same video, six years earlier, in September 2016, on the Russian social network ok.ru and on Twitter. These images therefore do not date from the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

An in-depth search makes it possible to find them and the viewing ofa report from the time shows that it is in fact a Russian military exercise from March 2014. A dispatch from the Russian Interfax news agency explained that nearly 1,500 paratroopers had been deployed during this exercise in the Rostov-on-Don region, not far from the Ukrainian border.

  • A “downed Russian plane”… filmed in Libya in 2011

Another viral video, lasting forty-five seconds, was widely broadcast, intended to illustrate the first clashes between Russian and Ukrainian armies. The images, filmed in broad daylight, show a plane targeted by a missile, before catching fire and crashing in the middle of a field.

For Internet users, these images show that Russia is lying by denying that its planes were shot down by the Ukrainians. For others, they prove that Ukraine defends itself well by managing to immobilize the Russian army. According to a journalist based in Ukraine (whose post has since been deleted), it would even be a Russian plane shot down near Kramatorsk, in the Donbass. These images, however, prove nothing of that.

Again, the video, filmed before the current events in Ukraine, is taken out of context. She was made by the Associated Press (AP) on March 19, 2011, during the war in libya. In the caption posted on YouTube, AP details the background:

Libyan rebels on Saturday shot down a warplane bombarding their eastern stronghold of Benghazi, as the opposition accused Muammar Gaddafi’s government of defying calls for an immediate ceasefire. »

At that time, raids had been launched by the United States, the United Kingdom and France in order to stop the pro-Gaddafi forces present at the gates of Benghazi.

  • Bursts of “fire against planes” … a video already shared last year

Another video, another diversion. In a ten-second night sequence, we see many propeller planes flying over a city targeted by salvoes of fire coming from the ground. Images presented as coming from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

But there again, if it is difficult to date the video exactly, it is clear that it does not date from yesterday. You can find it especially on Instagram in a post from October 4, 2021suggesting that it is in fact special effects illustrating the Second World War.

  • A photo from the “Kyiv Post”… which dates from 1993

English independent media The Kyiv Post posted a photo Thursday morning of a plane shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force with this caption: “The 6and defeated, glory to the heroes! » Media refers to a Facebook post of the Ministry of Ukrainian Armed Forces claiming to have shot down a seventh Russian plane in the morning.

However, many Twitter users have accused the Kyiv Post to have illustrated the information with a dated photo. It is, in fact, aa picture showing the mid-air collision between two planes Russian Mig 29, which occurred in the United Kingdom, on July 24, 1993. “Illustrating your tweets with old photos to make your content more visible during a conflict only spreads misinformation. Likes and clicks are less important than accurate conflict information,” lamented the online investigative journalism site Bellingcat.

  • A Russian aerial “attack”… from a video game

“It’s war, the most serious act on our continent since the Second World War”, commented, on Twitter, Julien Morganti, who presents himself as a municipal councilor in Bastia, Corsica. In a viral tweet, he is sorry for the Russian declaration of war by posting a video showing missiles launched at night. Images also shared in English.

This video is actually from a video game, WarThunder, an extract of which has been published on YouTube in December 2021.

Caution, therefore, before relaying any video related to this conflict. here is a few tips to apprehend the images circulating for example on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Read also Ukraine crisis: the online disinformation war is in full swing

Romain Geoffroy and Assma Maad