Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, concerns that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be drawn into the conflict have circulated online, fuelled by false reports of NATO troops fighting on the front lines. A video circulating online claims to show 鈥淣ATO soldiers鈥 on the ground in Ukraine. This is false. The video shows the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and while NATO is providing humanitarian and non-lethal aid to Ukraine, none of its member countries has sent soldiers to fight in the conflict.
A video that claims to show NATO soldiers in Ukraine, with text questioning whether it is the start of "World War 3." The 27-second video depicts a desert scene where a large crowd, some in military uniform, is gathered near what appears to be an airport runway. Helicopters flying low to the ground, artillery, several military vehicles and large aircraft can be seen as the camera pans left and right.
The account that originally posted the video has been taken down, along with a second account with a similar user name and profile that had . The video was also , where it has been viewed more than 511,000 times.
Rating: False
The video actually shows U.S. soldiers at the airport in Kabul during their withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The video was originally posted on Aug. 17, 2021, by the user @preach_edits, whose bio states the account is "Military and Law enforcement owned." The post includes another video and pictures, apparently from the same military operation.
A comment from @preach_edits on the post says the video was sent to him by a friend in the military who was stationed in Afghanistan.
The video was on Aug. 18, 2021, with a caption saying it showed U.S. military Apache helicopters chasing people off a Kabul airport runway so that a C-17 Globemaster III could take off.
from around the same time the video was posted confirm the use of helicopters to disperse crowds and include videos showing similar scenes to the one posted on Instagram.
Another TikTok user the misleading video, and included footage from a different angle that shows a Globemaster trying to take off with crowds clinging to the sides of the plane.
The official position of NATO, a political and military alliance of countries from Europe and North America, including Canada, is that it strongly "Russia's brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine."
NATO and its allies have provided Ukraine with both financial support and equipment to aid in the country's defence. NATO member countries have supplied Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and various light and heavy military equipment. Canada, alone, has spent more than $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine so far.
However, NATO says its actions are defensive and designed to prevent conflict, not provoke it. While it has in the eastern part of the alliance in Estonia, it does not have troops in Ukraine at the risk of escalating the conflict beyond Ukrainian borders.
Sources
Archives of the video on TikTok can be found and
Misleading video can also be found on Twitter (, )
(, )
(, )
()
(, )
()
春色直播 military commits to training Ukrainian soldiers in Latvia as war drags on 鈥 The 春色直播 Press ()
()
About 春色直播 Press fact checks
You can find out more about 春色直播here. To reach our fact-checking team with any tips, corrections or comments, please email us at cpfactcheck@thecanadianpress.com.
