Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 04/08/2023; Author: Elma Murić
A video showing the exchange of prisoners in Ukraine is spreading on social networks in our region featuring false claims that it shows the mass surrender of Ukrainian soldiers.
On July 23, 2023, a video was shared on the social network X (formerly Twitter) with a description stating the following:
This is what the counterattack of the Ukrainians looks like, which they will not discuss in Ukraine. They gather in large columns under the white flag and save their lives by surrendering.
This is a video shared from another profile that publishes content in Russian.
The video, which is said to show the surrender of Ukrainian soldiers, shows military vehicles with white flags displayed and two columns of people moving in opposite directions.
Featuring the same claims, as well as the one that “collective surrender” of Ukrainians has begun, the video was shared in several other posts on Facebook, X and Telegram (1, 2, 3, 4).
What does the video actually show?
Since the video with the same claims was also spread in other languages, their accuracy was checked by other fact-checking platforms in the world, including The Observers, AFP Fact-Check, AFP Proveru cinjenica and Newsweek.
According to the conclusions gathered by these platforms by analyzing the mentioned video, it was determined that it actually shows the Ukrainian army exchanging prisoners of war with the Wagner group, and not the “collective” surrender of Ukrainian soldiers, as claimed on social networks.
Namely, on May 25, 2023, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published a public address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who pointed out that 106 soldiers who fought in the Bakhmut area had returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity.
This exchange of prisoners in Ukraine was reported on May 26 by many media outlets in the world, including DW, Telegraph and Wall Street Journal. The articles of these media also contain video reports about the exchange. They contain frames from the video which the Wagner Group published on its Telegram channel on May 25. In the description of Wagner’s post, it was stated that it was a prisoner exchange.
By comparing the viral footage shared with the claim that it is a collective surrender of Ukrainians with Wagner’s footage from media reports, it is clear that it is the same event. The aforementioned fact-checking platforms came to the same conclusion.
In its analysis, The Observers compared the clip from social networks with a clip from a video published on the YouTube channel of the British Telegraph, establishing that the frame from the viral video matches the frame shown in the 34th second of the report (archived here), published on the Telegraph.
It was pointed out that the footage shows tanks with white flags in the same positions, as well as the same two groups of men moving in opposite directions. The fact that it is the same event, just filmed from different angles, is illustrated by photos of a frame from the viral video (left) and a frame from the video of the Wagner group, which is included in the Telegraph (right).
Photo: The Observers/ The image shown on the left is from the viral video. The image on the right is from a video posted online by the Wagner Group and included in the Telegraph’s May report. The second video contains the same frame as the first, only shot from a different angle.
The mentioned announcements of Ukrainian officials and the media articles support the fact that it is an exchange and not a surrender. On the same day that the exchange took place, May 25, it was reported by the media in the world, as well as media and agencies in our region, stating that Ukraine secured the release of 106 soldiers in the exchange with Russia. These reports also stated that the Russian human rights ombudsman Tatjana Moskalkova confirmed “that the Russian private military group Wagner took part in the exchange of fighters on Thursday [25.5.2023]”, as well as that Moskalkova “did not provide more details” about this exchange.
According to the facts that the mentioned videos on social networks show the exchange of prisoners, the claim that it shows the surrender of Ukrainian soldiers is not true.
Given that it is not possible to determine when this claim first appeared in our language, all publications in which it is stated receive the rating for the distribution of fake news.