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Old Video Of French Troop Fighting Taliban Falsely Shared As Ongoing Russia-Ukraine War
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
India, 2 March 2022 11:20 AM GMT
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As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
The viral video is of French troops fighting with Taliban in Afghanistan and it is almost 12 years old. It has nothing to do with the ongoing Ukraine-Russian war.
Russia-Ukraine war has entered into its seventh day. The Russian army is constantly bombarding Ukraine's capital Kyiv, with missiles. In Kyiv, civilians have been asked to go into bunkers or basements of their homes. Ukraine has claimed to have foiled an attempt by Russian forces to target President Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, a video is doing rounds on social media with claim of it being visuals of the ongoing Russia Ukraine war. In this 8:30 second long video, soldiers with advanced military gears can be seen firing. Heavy artillery firing can also be seen throughout the video. While sharing this video people wrote a caption that reads, "Ukraine vs Russia army fight live war updated." This post has got more than 217k views and 5.2k likes.
Another user wrote a caption that reads, "Russia VS Ukraine Army Fight Live War Update."
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Claim:
Viral video shows visuals of the Russia Ukraine war.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The viral video is from Afghanistan.
We observed the video carefully and notice that the visuals are of some deserted area and the language which army personnel were speaking doesn't sound like Russian or Ukrainian language.
To know the truth of the viral claim, we captured various keyframes of the shared video using the InVID tool and conducted a Google reverse image search. It led us to a YouTube video in which similar footages can be seen. In the beginning, we can see text written in French that reads, "Accrochage durant l'Opération Île bleue Vallée d ' Uzbeen 29 Novembre 2009." [English Translation: Clashes during Operation Blue Island Uzbin Valley November 29, 2009.] Uzbin valley is located in Afghanistan.
We also found a similar footage on YouTube uploaded on 05 August 2021. The title of the video reads, "French Foreign Legion In Heavy Combat With Taliban In Afghanistan." The caption of the video reads, "Video footage from the War in Afghanistan shows fighters of the French Legion in heavy combat with Taliban in Afghanistan."
Though we could not independently verify the location shown in the video, but its availability on the internet before the war started proves that the viral video is not from the Ukraine-Russia war. On observing the video carefully, we saw a soldier inside the tank wearing badge in the video suggests that the armymen belonged to France.
We also compared the stills of the viral video with a footage available on YouTube. Below you can see the comparison.
It is evident from our investigation that the viral video is more than 12 years and it has nothing to do with the Ukraine-Russia war. The viral video is of French troops fighting with Taliban in Afghanistan. Hence, the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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