Amid the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, a video in which several people and military personnel can be seen heckling a captured man is being widely shared on social media with a claim that the man captured by the Russians is Ukrainian Commander of Azov.
The video is being shared on Facebook with the caption, “The Ukrainian commander of Azov, who allegedly killed many Russians, was captured by Russian troops.”
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim and found it to be MISLEADING.
Using the InVid Tool, we extracted keyframes from the viral video and performed a Reverse Image Search. This search directed us to several YouTube channels that carried the same viral video back in 2015. The Russian video title can be translated in English to, “Captured cyborgs (Donetsk, 22.01.15) part 5.”
Taking a cue from this, we did a keyword search and found a video news report published on May 23, 2015, that reported the same incident. The video title read, “Cyborg Released: Legendary Donetsk Airport defender freed from militant captivity.”
The video description further reads, “A Ukrainian military commander captured by militants whilst defending Donetsk Airport has been freed… Several days after being detained, Russian media broadcast footage of the prisoners of war being beaten and verbally abused whilst being paraded through the city.”
We searched further and found that several news articles had reported the same incident. Thus, it is evident from the above information that the viral video dates back to 2015 and is not related to the Ukraine-Russia war.
Who is “Cyborg” and what is the Azov battalion?
Oleh Kuzminykh, often known as Cyborg, was a Ukrainian military officer who was instrumental in defending Donetsk Airport against the Russian Army.
Also, in the viral video, he can be seen interacting with the journalists before being beaten up by the crowd. On May 23, 2015, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko posted on his Facebook page that he had been released from Russian captivity.
Searching further, we found that the Azov Battalion was a far-right pro-Ukraine autonomous militia with a history of neo-Nazi sympathies. When the far-right National Corps party was created in 2016, Azov’s military and political sections legally split. By that time, the Azov Battalion had been absorbed into the Ukrainian National Guard.
According to recent media reports, “The Donetsk People’s Republic militia claimed to have killed one of the fascist unit’s leaders, Artyom Murakhovsky, during a battle in the city of Avdiivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.”
Thus, it is evident from the above information that a 7-year-old video is being shared with misleading claims.
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