This video shared on February 27, 2022 claims to show the aftermath of an attack in Ukraine. While this may be just a possible impact of a missile attack, chances are, there could be the missing context in this video.
Here, Piga Firimbi establishes if there are any.
Background
Russia is known among other things for its weapon export market, after the United States. Between 2016 and 2020, Moscow, the country’s capital, sold $28 billion in weapons to 45 different countries, globally. Their largest buyer being India, with a purchase of $6.5 billion. In the same period, Russia exported over 400 fighter jets.
In the same period, Russia exported over 400 fighter jets. While a lot of Russia’s weapons are largely exported, Ukraine has recently fallen victim to missile attacks.
Russia is accused of using cluster munitions, a type of explosive weapon that has been sanctioned in more than 100 countries. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs discourages the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling and transfer of munitions, as well as the assistance or encouragement of anyone to engage in prohibited activities.
In an investigation by Bellingcat, these munitions which point back to Russia, have hit different parts of Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. One for instance shows an attack in a residential area, next to a children’s hospital.
Verification
As much as this video shows the impact of explosive attacks, reverse image searches reveal that this was an explosion that took place in Lebanon. The explosion which is said to have hit Beirut, the country’s capital, injured over 3,000 people.
Lebanon’s former interior minister Mohammed Fahmi attributed this explosion to a detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in a warehouse since 2014.
Verdict
This video does NOT show a missile attack in Ukraine.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
Add comment