Scenes From A Documentary Film viral as Ukrainian Soldiers Departing to Fight Russia’s Invasion

As Russia continues its invasion into Ukraine, a 30-second video clip was widely circulated on social media with a claim that it was a heartbreaking scene of Ukrainian soldiers hugging their loved ones before departing to join in the forces in their fight against Russia’s invasion. The video clip has been virally watched by social media users who expressed their comments and reactions to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis. After our investigation, however, it proves the video is misleading and not related to the current crisis between Ukraine and Russia.

Social Media Claim

A Facebook page posted a video on social media, saying it was a heartbreaking scene of Ukrainian soldiers saying goodbye to their loved ones before departing to join the Ukrainian forces. The 30-second video clip has been watched almost 8,000 times along with many reshares on social media in the last few days.

Below is the full video clip uploaded by A+ MEDIA on 25 February with the caption “Heartbreaking video of #Ukrainian Soldier Russia’s Ukraine attack.”

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The video clip has been widely circulated on social media in recent days as Russia continues its invasion into Ukraine.

The video clip can be watched on social media with a link here or link here or another link available here.

Fact Check

Factcrescendo Team began the investigation into the video claimed above by running a reverse image search on the frames from the viral video, which indicated that there were actually scenes from a documentary film “The War of Chimeras” produced by Anastasia Starozhytska and her journalist mother and released in 2017.

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The film was based on a true story of the producer and her partner who voluntarily joined in the battle of Ilovaisk in 2014, 8 years before the full scale of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started.

Below is a trailer of the film, published on a YouTube channel in October 2018.

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We also found an interview with the film producer Anastasia Staroshytska in February 2018, and it can be watched via a link available here.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL | ARCHIVED

CONCLUSION

Factcrescendo found the viral video was falsely linked to the ongoing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Authentically, the video depicting soldiers hugging their loved ones before leaving for battle is a scene from the documentary film “The War of Chimeras” produced by the Ukrainian director Anastasia Staroshytsk and her mother and released in 2017.