Kyiv’s Mayor Photo Is Old and From a Military Training
The Claim
The photo depicts Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko defending his country.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media users have circulated a viral photo of Kyiv’s Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, down on his knee with a machine gun. They claim it depicts Vitali defending his country on the front line.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar has investigated the claim and found it to be misleading.
Vitali Klitschko posted the picture on March 13, 2021, with a caption in Ukrainian reading: “I, the deputy heads of the Kyiv City State Administration and the heads of districts of Kyiv, were instructed at the Desna training center and got acquainted with the functioning of certain military units. Many of us have served in the military, but skills need to be improved.”
Description: The photo is old.
Although Mr. Klitschko was fighting with the Ukrainian troops and was participating in defending Ukraine, this picture is old and has nothing to do with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
