False: A photo of a Kyiv residential building damaged in February 2022 by a Russian missile strike, and repaired a year later, proves the war is fake.

By: Rajini KG
March 2 2023

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Context

Several conspiracy theories related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are circulating on social media. On February 24, 2023, Stew Peters, who frequently shares misinformation, tweeted a collage of two images of a residential building from Ukraine with the caption, "This war is fake." The two pictures were taken year apart: the image on the left shows a gaping hole in a damaged building and is captioned February 2022, while the second image, dated February 2023, shows the same building without damage. Peters insinuates that the attack on the building in February 2022 was fake, as the building was left undamaged. The tweet has attracted 45,300 likes and 17,500,000 views. 

In Fact

The image on the left showing the damaged building has text that says "UKRAINE ua". This took us to the Twitter account of Ukraine.ua, which had the same text on its profile picture. The description of the account states that it provides information related to Ukraine. On February 21, 2023, the account tweeted the same viral image with the caption, "In February 2022, the Russian missile hit a residential building on Lobanovskyi Avenue in Kyiv, a heartbreaking photo of which horrified the whole world and showed Russia's true intentions. Almost one year later, the building is renovated."

A reverse image search revealed that the building is 6A Lobonovsky Avenue, located in Kyiv. On February 26, 2022, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine uploaded CCTV footage of the missile attack and the aftermath of the attack. In the video, one of the security officials states that on February 26, 2022, 6A Lobonovsky Avenue was shelled between floors 18 to 21. A building resident can also be seen speaking in Ukrainian on the phone about how he escaped and how his son and wife were injured. 

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine had also posted a few images from the building site on February 26, 2022, writing, "Kyiv. As of 11:10 a.m., 20 people were evacuated from a residential building at 6A Lobonovsky Avenue by units of the State Emergency Service. 2 people were injured and hospitalized. There is a threat of destruction of the 22nd - 23rd floor." 

Sky News also posted footage of the missile attack on its official Twitter account with the caption, "Sky News has verified and located two videos which show a missile hitting an apartment block in the west of Kyiv. No deaths have been reported." Footage of the missile hitting the building is also available on other news platforms. Pictures of the aftermath and the damage suffered by the building were also shared by news channels. This confirms that the building was damaged in a missile strike in February 2022.

The Verdict

There are videos and pictures available of a missile hitting a residential building in Kyiv in 2022, which has now been repaired and renovated a year later. Claims that the war is fake are without merit. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.