Ukrainian soldiers terrorize mother and child – but the “evidence” is fake

A woman frantically begs for her life in Russian, with a screaming child in the background. Two men in Ukrainian uniforms shoot at each other in front of their car. The blue and yellow flag of Ukraine and the so-called “Bar Cross” adorn their cars.

The video is terrifying. It is intended to show how Russian-born residents of Ukraine are harassed, mistreated and threatened on a daily basis. Even the Russian Foreign Ministry shared the recording on its Twitter account, writing: “Once a Nazi, always a Nazi”.

The video has been clicked over a million times on this account alone. The Ministry’s Twitter message can no longer be found. The reason: Twitter users were able to find out that the video is fake using local.

Geolocation at its best

But can it just find out? By pre-eminent location determination and eyewitness reports on the spot.

This allowed the geolocation collective @geoconfirmed to use the smallest clues to determine where the video was filmed. Clues like two trees growing across the street or a power pylon in the background.

Local helpers went to the alleged position and were able to confirm to the “signature” branches above the street that the video was shot at this location.

And where exactly is this place? A few kilometers east of the city of Donetsk, which has been under separatist control since 2014 and is the capital of the internationally unrecognized “Donetsk People’s Republic”.

So it seems very unlikely that Ukrainian soldiers terrorize the population there. It is suspected that the video was staged by Russian actors to terrify the populace and spread the story that Ukraine is controlled by Nazis who hate Russia.

(cpf)