2022 video shared as Russian fighter aircraft being shot down over Belgorod recently

By: Azra Ali
March 20 2024

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Screenshots of the viral post.(Source:X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

In the light of shelling on the Russia-Ukrainian border intensifying, a five-second clip showing an explosion is going viral with the claim that it shows a “Russian Su-27 fighter aircraft” being shot down over “Belgorod, on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine, where the pro-Ukraine Russian Freedom Legion is currently active.” According to media reports, the Belgorod region has been at the center of heavy drone strikes and shelling after pro-Ukranian Russian paramilitary groups launched a cross-border assault starting on March 11.

Archived versions of posts linking the viral clip to Belgorod can be found here, here, and here. This video was also shared by the verified X (formerly Twitter) account of the Kyiv Post, with the caption: “Telegram channels report a downed Su-27 aircraft over the #Belgorod region,” and an archived version of this tweet can be found here.

Screenshots of the viral posts.(Source:X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the viral video is from February 2022 and reportedly shows an explosion on a Ukrainian army base.

How did we verify this? 

A reverse image search led us to a news report by News Letter, an Irish newspaper, dated February 27, 2022. The story includes a video report that shows the same visuals that are now viral. The visuals can be seen at the 0:20 mark in the News Letter video. According to the description of the video, it shows the visuals of large explosions and multiple blasts in Ukraine’s Kyiv and Kharkiv regions after Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine. Russia had declared a full-scale invasion of Ukraine over two years in February 2022.

Screenshot of the NewsLetter report. (Source: NewsLetter/Screenshot)

We also found that Alec Luhn, an award-winning freelance journalist, shared the now-viral video on his X account on February 24, 2022. The caption of the video reads, “Ukraine army base reportedly hit in Vinnitsiya region.” This indicates that the video has been online since 2022 and is not recent.  

We also found a news report by Newsweek that quoted reports and said that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet crashed down in Russia’s region of Belgorod on March 12. The report also included the video shared by Kyiv Post, with a note that the video appears to be from 2022.

The verdict 

Our research shows that a video that has been online since 2022 has been shared as a Russian aircraft being struck over Belgorod. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.