A TikTok video claims a certain Ukrainian “FA-27” jet was shot down by Russia. This is false. The jet was a Russian aircraft that figured in a 2015 incident with a Turkish F-16.
TikTok user matwdlls claimed on Feb. 28 that Russia fired at a jet and included a series of pictures of men in military uniform. It bore the caption: “Russia shut dowm (sic) jet of FA-27 at 8:AM RASCAL. #thelegend #ukraine #fyp”
The video emerged a few days after Russia, on orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine.
No recent news reports mentioned an “FA-27” jet falling from the sky after shots were allegedly fired from the Russian side.
The original video of the falling fighter jet was taken in 2015 according to several news reports. The jet was actually a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M attack aircraft and not an “FA-27”.
A Turkish Air Force F-16 jet shot down the aircraft after the Russians allegedly ignored several warnings by the Turks to turn back as they were violating Turkish airspace. This incident worsened the tensions between the two countries.
The TikTok video further showed a series of images unrelated to the shootdown.
An altered photo of South Korean singer-actor Kim Seok-woo was included in the clip. The original image was taken from a scene in the TV show Extraordinary You, according to an Indonesian news report.
A 2018 photo of South Korean President Moon Jae-In greeting soldiers stationed in the United Arab Emirates was also included in the short video.
Lastly, a 2013 stock image of a United States marine talking to Afghan children was used alongside other images in the video.
The video has been viewed more than 3.5 million times and has garnered more than 279,200 interactions. It was reuploaded by three Facebook netizens.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
