Recently, there has been a video circulating on social media depicting a massive explosion, and it’s been claimed that the footage shows a recent incident near Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine. However, upon investigation, D-Intent Data has confirmed that this video is actually from May 2023.
Sharing the video on X (Formerly Twitter), fake news peddler, propagandist and self-proclaimed OSINT account @RealBababanaras wrote. BREAKING: A huge explosion reported near the city of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine. Reportedly “depleted uranium” storage facility was hit!
Another user US Civil Defense News @CaptCoronado has also disseminated the same video and wrote. A viral video of a huge explosion near the city of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine has been shared widely alongside unverified claims that a “depleted uranium” storage facility was hit!
Several other users, influencers and propagandists have also shared the video and made similar claims. Their posts can be seen here. @ug_chelsea @ChoosyBluesy @IRONMAN171234, @Politicspedia23.
The truth about the viral video, Fact Check
As soon as the posts containing the video of the huge explosion came to our notice, we conducted research and analysis of the video and found that this is an old video that dates back to May 2023.
To verify the claims made by the users. We performed a reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video on Google Lens. This led us to several media reports, and social media posts containing the same visuals. According to the media reports(1, 2 ), this is an old video from May 2023, at that time. Ukrainian officials attributed the explosion to a kamikaze drone strike on a critical infrastructure facility. In contrast, Russian media reported that the blast resulted from a detonation at an ammunition depot.
Moreover, we found a post containing the same video on X (Formerly Twitter), it was uploaded on 14 May 2023 with a caption that reads. “CCTV footage of today’s Russian strike on a facility in the area of Khmelnytskyi.” The CCTV footage also contains the date which can be read as 13-05-2023.
Hence, it is evident from D-Intent Data’s Fact Check that the viral video depicting a massive explosion is not a recent but an old incident from May 2023.
Intent
Social media users, influencers, propagandists and self-proclaimed OSINT accounts are circulating old videos with misleading claims to set their narrative to get the spotlight on social media.
Conclusion
Claim – A huge explosion was reported near the city of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine in a recent incident. Reportedly, a “depleted uranium” storage facility was hit.
Fact – This is an old video from May 2023 when a huge explosion was reported from Khmelnytskyi.
Related Article: Fact Check: Old video of road collapse from Turkey falsely shared as India – D-Intent Data (dintentdata.com)
