Did Russia's President Vladimir Putin launch a missile attack on Ukraine that hit Europe, and was he expected to broadcast live to communicate the results of the new war? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no credible reports of such an attack. No announcement of an upcoming live broadcast by President Putin was published on the Kremlin's official website.
On April 20, 2023, the claim appeared in a video posted on the TikTok account @novosti_veka (archived here).
The claim opened:
URGENT: 11 MINUTES AGO
EUROPE AND THE US FAINTED
PUTIN DELIVERED A SURGICAL STRIKE
Putin struck a precise blow to Europe
Putin launched a missile attack on Ukraine yesterday that hit Europe. Today Putin will be broadcasting live to communicate the results of the new war.
(The text has been translated into English from Russian by Lead Stories staff).
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok.com screengrab taken Fri May 12 10:35:23 2023 UTC)
A search on Google didn't show any credible reports that Russia's President Vladimir Putin launched a missile attack on Ukraine, hitting Europe. If that were the case, it would be a news event of global importance, reported by the international media.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russia has repeatedly fired missiles at Ukraine. According to a BBC report of May 8, 2023, Russia had recently intensified its air raids ahead of a widely expected Ukrainian counter-offensive and launched dozens of drone strikes across Ukraine on the eve of May 9 - a major holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about the Russia-Ukraine war can be found here.
