Did no officials meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Doha airport when he arrived for a visit to Qatar? No, that's not true: Sultan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, Qatar's minister of state for foreign affairs, arrived to receive him. However, Steinmeier waited at the exit of the plane for nearly half an hour. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Are children trafficked to pedophiles at the Ukrainian-Polish border? No, that's not true: Poland's Government Information Centre stated that the claim of selling children for pedophilia at the Ukrainian-Polish border is disinformation. Lead Stories found no evidence supporting this claim. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on the TikTok account @alexandr_turner on November 27, 2023. Russian media outlets…

Did Lithuanian, Latvian and Polish presidents receive a request to move aside due to lack of space during a group photo session at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai on December 1, 2023? No, that's not true: The leaders of the Baltic countries and Poland boycotted the group photo session to protest the presence of Belarusian President…

Did Ukrainians in the city of Zhytomyr receive leaflets inviting them to vote for current Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny as the new president of Ukraine? No, that's not true: Pictures purportedly showing such leaflets have been shared as Russian propaganda, along with the alleged candidacy of Zaluzhny in an upcoming election in Ukraine, according to…

Did Lithuanians voice their opinion on closing border crossings with neighboring Belarus? No, that's not true: The claim is based on a statement by the vice-chancellor and head of the National Crisis Management Centre of Lithuania, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, taken out of context. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by sotniktiktok on November 22, 2023, under the…

Has CNN released a billboard advertisement in New York City saying "Kyiv is all over"? No, that's not true: A CNN representative told Lead Stories that CNN never produced such an ad, and Lead Stories found no evidence that the ad shown in videos on social media ever existed. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on the TikTok…

Did a 17-year-old Ukrainian teenager lose his life on the battlefield, fighting with the Armed Forces of Ukraine? No, that's not true: The man being referred to in a video circulating on social media, Volodymyr Sachala, was 26, not 17, when he died. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok published by okupantttt on December 7, 2023.…

Was a new law introduced by the Lithuanian government to impose a rain tax as a response to budget deficits caused by sanctions, starting at the beginning of 2024? No, that's not true: Lithuania does not have a rain tax. However, the government has enacted a new law that mandates registration for users of surface water. This regulation applies to…

Did the former adviser to Ukraine's president's office announce an "information bomb" at the beginning of 2024 that would reveal the truth about Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, while claiming the support of influential Ukrainian armed forces generals? No, that's not true: Oleksiy Arestovich announced he did not make these statements, and the video appears to be manipulated. TikTok account @belvestnik.bel121 posted…

Does a video on social media show "thousands of U.S. Marines landing in Israel," to assist Israeli forces in the fight against Hamas? No, that's not true: The video predates the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. It is from June 2022 and features the arrival of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Romania, to support the V Army Corps mission to strengthen…

Правда ли, что латвийские спецслужбы вербуют туристов на границе с Беларусью? Пытались ли силовые структуры Латвии завербовать мужчину, направлявшегося в Беларусь, на латвийском пограничном пункте пропуска «Pāternieki»? Нет, это неправда. Министерство иностранных дел Латвии сообщило Lead Stories, что это дезинформация. Кроме того, Lead Stories не нашли никаких доказательств, подтверждающих, что латвийские спецслужбы вербуют туристов на белорусской границе. Данное утверждение появилось…

Правда ли, что португальское правительство ограничило въезд в страну лидера белорусской оппозиции в изгнании Светланы Тихановской и усложнило условия для белорусских граждан? Нет, это неправда. Представитель португальского МИДа подтвердил, что таких ограничений не было, а Lead Stories не нашли никаких доказательств, что Португалия ввела рестрикции против белорусов. Данное утверждение появилось в видео (архив здесь), опубликованном в социальной сети TikTok 14…

Are they recruiting extras in Kyiv to support the election campaign of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, and is the main requirement for extras the presence of combat experience or dress uniform? No, that's not true: The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine's Department of Press and Information emailed Lead Stories to refute the claim on…

Did Ukrainian television channel 1+1, citing Ukraine's Defence Ministry, acknowledge that over a million soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have died or gone missing? No, that's not true: The Department of Press and Information of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence told Lead Stories it was disinformation. Channel 1+1, contacted by Lead Stories, also added that no such information…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deliver an urgent speech in which he announced his resignation? No, that's not true: A watermark on the video on social media is from a platform for creating videos with talking AI avatars, the voice is not the same and the content is satirical. No credible reports confirm such an announcement. The claim appeared in…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announce a "shovel challenge" and ask people to join him in cleaning a Ukrainian cemetery? No, that's not true: The original video showing Zelenskyy shoveling snow from a city street, posted on his official Facebook account in 2019, has been digitally altered to superimpose his video over scenes from a Ukrainian cemetery. The claim appeared…

Has a pregnant medic in the Ukrainian city of Odesa received a summons? No, that's not true: Ukrainian law recognizes pregnancy as a valid reason for a servicewoman's dismissal, and pregnant women do not need to register for military service. The claim appeared in a video on TikTok by @alexandr_turner (archived here) on November 12, 2023, and was also shared…

Did Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko discuss the Russia-Ukraine war with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, showing him a map with military positions, and advising him to reconsider his stance to spare his country a defeat? No, that's not true: A video circulating on social media was created by juxtaposing excerpts from an interview given by Lukashenko to a Ukrainian journalist in…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appear in a Vicks nasal spray ad on a huge billboard in New York's Times Square, according to a video on TikTok? No, that's not true: The alleged video shown on the billboard in the video on social media uses a digital likeness of Zelenskyy and is one of several examples of digitally edited billboards…

Does this video show former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and analyst Scott Ritter inviting Russian followers to subscribe to his Russian Telegram channel? No, that's not true: The video of the alleged invitation to follow him on his new Telegram channel is taken from a 2022 interview that Ritter gave to The Real News Network, in which he made…