An Image of Building Rubble in Lebanon Claimed as Devastation in Ukraine

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, videos and images related to the destruction in Ukraine have been circulated on social media. One of them is an image of a group of people searching for people trapped in a damaged building that was claimed the destruction in Ukraine after the Russian bombardment. The image has been virally shared on social media by Khmer-speaking Facebook users. After our investigation, however, we prove the claim is false.

Social Media Claim

On March 05, a Facebook user posted an image on social media showing a group of rescuers searching for possible survivors trapped in a damaged building.

The same social media user claimed a building in Ukraine’s Mariupol city was collapsed after bombardment by Russians, trapping as many as 200 people including children.

The image with such a claim has been multiple shared by Khmer-speaking Facebook users along with a mixture of comments and reactions.

Below is the capture of the claim posted on Facebook on March 05, about 10 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion into Ukraine.

FACEBOOK POST | ARCHIVED

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Cambodia began an investigation into the above-mentioned claim by running Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find out the truth as below.

The same image was published in an article of The National on September 05, 2020. The media reported about a group of rescuers searching for possible survivors in the rubble of a building in Lebanon’s Beirut city a month after an explosive blast.

The Arab-based media said the rescuers resumed their rescuing operation after detecting signals of possible survivors.

The media said a building in Beirut was exploded on August 04 in 2020, killing up to 191 people and many others trapped in the damaged rubble. The image was attributed to European Pressphoto Agency (EPA).

The National | Archived

The same image was also published on September 03, 2020 by The Telegraph, saying a team of Chilean rescuers searched for possible survivors after a sniffer dog detected that there might be a survivor under the rubble.

The Telegraph | Archived

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found out the claim mentioned above is missing context. The image is unrelated to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The image is originally about a group of rescuers searching for possible survivors under rubble a month after a building in Lebanon’s Beirut was blasted in early August, 2020.

Stay tune, subscribe to our social media below:

Facebook Twitter Telegram Google News