Fake Washington Post screenshot shared to claim Ukraine supplying weapons to Hamas

By: Vivek J
November 9 2023

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Screenshot of the posts with the viral screenshot of the purported Washington Post article. (Source: TikTok/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim? 

A video posted to TikTok in Spanish has shared a purported screenshot of a news article by the Washington Post that reads, “Weapon supplies from Ukraine to Hamas has tripled over the past month.” This purported screenshot, which appears to show the date of publication as November 2, 2023, has been shared by other TikTok users. Archives can be seen here and here. Similar posts have been shared on other platforms like X (formerly Twitter). Archives can be seen here and here.

Screenshots of the posts with the purported screenshot of the Washington Post Article. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts) 

However, we did not find any article on the Washington Post website. The images of the weapons used in the screenshot are over a year old and unrelated to the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

What did we find?   

We checked the website of the Washington Post and found no such article published on November 2, 2023, nor in the Washington Post archives. A spokesperson from the news organization told AFP that no such article was published. Logically Facts has also written to the Washington Post and will update this story once we receive a response. 

Further, we did not find anyone named Chris Moltisanti listed as an author for the Washington Post on their website. A search on the web led us to a fictional character named Christopher Chris Moltisanti, a fictional character portrayed by Michael Imperioli on the HBO TV Series “The Sopranos.” 

A reverse image search of the viral screenshot led us to an article by Frontier India, dated June 21, 2022. This article, titled “US & NATO trained Ukrainian POWs reveal weapons and tactics to the Russians,” contained the exact image of the weapons cache as seen in the viral screenshot. 

We also found a video in a news report by Newsweek containing the same frame in the viral screenshot. The report dated June 13, 2022, quoted the Russian Ministry of Defense as saying that these were weapons left behind by Ukrainian troops. There are also multiple other instances where Russia has released videos that displayed seized weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries like the U.S., as reported by news outlets. 

Screenshot of the Newsweek article. (Source: Newsweek/Screenshot)

This shows that the image in the viral screenshot is actually from a year-old article and that of weapons seized by Russia from Ukraine during their conflict. 

It is not the first time such unsubstantiated claims of Ukraine sending weapons to Hamas have surfaced. Several pro-Russian social media users, including politicians from within and outside Russia, have propagated similar narratives. In this article by Logically Facts, you can find a detailed account of how such misinformation was propagated ever since the Israel-Hamas conflict began. There is no evidence of Ukraine sending weapons to Hamas. 

Furthermore, ever since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed his support for Israel and also urged world leaders to come forward in support of the country.

The verdict

The screenshot purporting to show a Washington Post article reporting about Ukraine sending weapons to Hamas is fake. There is no evidence of the author working for the Washington Post. Further, no such article is found on the website or the archives of the Washington Post. Therefore, we have marked this claim as fake.