Old Images From Ukraine Revived Amid Ongoing War With Russia

The images were taken during the conflict of 2014 following the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych.

A set of three disturbing pictures showing the 'condition of Ukraine' is being widely shared on social media with a claim that they show the outcome of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

While it is true that the ongoing war has led to large-scale displacement of people and destruction, but these images aren't recent.

We found that the images date back to 2014, when massive anti-government protests ravaged Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. The conflict began in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea after the Pro-Russian government of President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled in Ukraine. The fighting between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels intensified thereafter, leading to immense destruction.

CLAIM

The photographs showing massive devastation are being shared to claim that they are the result of the recent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

We found more such posts on Facebook, links to some of which can be found here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We found that all the three images were old and could be traced back to 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.

IMAGE 1

We ran a reverse image search on the image and found it on the website of The Wall Street Journal published in 2017, in an article titled 'World Press Photo Announces Contest Winners'.

The photo's caption mentioned that it showed 'civilians escaping fire in Luhanskaya village in Ukraine'.

Another article on The Atlantic from the year 2015 carried a similar description. It also stated that the photo was taken by Valery Melnikov, an award-winning photographer.

We found this image on his website, where it was mentioned that the picture were taken in 2014 in Luhansk when the conflict between Pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian army was escalating.

IMAGE 2

The second picture shows a woman in a devastated house. We ran a reverse image search of the viral image on Google, and the results led us to a Russian photo archival website, Sputnik Images, containing the details of the photo. It was clicked by the Russian photojournalist, Andrey Stenin, who was killed while covering the conflict in 2014. The website states that the photo was taken on 20 May 2014.

The caption of the image read, "A woman in her house damaged during the night artillery attack conducted by Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of Slavyansk."

IMAGE 3

On performing a reverse image search, on the picture above, we found a Russian news portal, News Tambov, which had used the same photo. It was credited to the Russian News Agency RIA Novosti. According to the report, the picture is from the village of Luhansk in Ukraine, which was devastated by air strikes on 2 July 2014.

WHAT HAPPENED IN 2014?

It is to be noted that these protests had erupted in response to the then Ukrainian President Yanukovych's decision of not signing a “political association and free trade agreement” with the European Union and choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union instead.

The Ukrainians supported the EU agreement, and subsequently, Yanukovych's government was overthrown in February 2014. Russia, in order to gain its lost influence in Ukraine, invaded and annexed Crimea the next month.

Pro-Russian separatist rebels began seizing territories in the Eastern regions of Ukraine and the fighting between the rebels and Ukrainian military intensified.

Evidently, old images from the 2014 conflicts in Ukraine were shared as recent ones amid the country's ongoing war with Russia.

Russia invaded the country on 24 February 2022, in an escalation of the events of 2014. As of 9 March, the war had entered its second week with Russia bombing key Ukrainian cities.