Video of explosion dates to at least March 2017 and is unrelated to Russian invasion of Ukraine
A video of an explosion dates to at least March 2017 and is unconnected to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Users shared the clip amid the invasion without detailing that it is not recent or pertaining to the current conflict.
One user who shared the clip via Twitter on Feb. 24, 2022, said: “Moment an explosion at an Ukrainian arms depot sent rockets flying over the town of Kalinovka in Ukraine's Vinnitsa region” (here), (archive.is/wip/cAkco).
Another user said on Facebook: “Russia has invaded Ukraine with an all-out attack from north, south and east taking place simultaneously. This was the moment an explosion at a Ukrainian arms depot sent rockets flying over the town of Kalinovka, in Ukraine’s Vinnitsa region” (here).
The clip is not recent, however, and a reverse image search reveals that the video was uploaded to YouTube in March 2017.
The headline of the YouTube video reads: “Explosion at the Army ammo depot in Ukraine 23/3/2017” (bit.ly/3BRE4ia).
In March 2017, a warehouse storing tank ammunition at an eastern military base was blown up and Ukraine’s then Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak, said that Ukraine suspected that the Russian military or its separatist rebel proxies were responsible (here).
The video was also embedded into articles published by Gizmodo and the Daily Mail in 2017 (here), (here).
Reuters previously addressed another video that was shared purporting to show evidence of a major development in Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, but was filmed in September 2017, when an ammunitions depot at a military base in Kalynivka, Ukraine, exploded (here).
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. A clip of an explosion dates to at least March 2017 and is unrelated to the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Sign up here.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
