No, Photo of the Old Man With a Cat Is Not From Ukraine

Faten Elwan

News

14th March 2022

No, Photo of the Old Man With a Cat Is Not From Ukraine

The photo dates back to 2018 and was taken in Turkey (Twitter).

The Claim

An old man holds on to his cat, in a tragic scene from war-torn Ukraine.

News posted on

Katherine Southardreece

Emerging story

Social media users have circulated an image of an old man, in tears while holding his cat, with the caption: “When humans act with cruelty we refer to them as animals, yet the only animal that displays cruelty is humanity. This is a very touching image.”

"When humans act with cruelty we refer to them as animals, yet the only animal that displays cruelty is humanity. "

This is a very touching image❤️#Ukraine #UkraineRussianWar #StopRussia #NATO #UkraineRussia pic.twitter.com/P5oNWYLiWs
— Samiul Labeeb (@samiul_labeeb) March 7, 2022

Dear @ZelenskyyUa : please send this lovely gentleman and his cat to America. @GPlissken and I will gladly take care of them! 😿🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/XKIKqH2MD0
— DoxieDoc (@scottyssqueeze) March 7, 2022

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar has investigated the claim and found it to be fake. Misbar’s team used reverse image search and found the same photo on the official Instagram profile of the Turkish news outlet Daily Sabah. The original photo was posted on January 17, 2018.

The image was shared with the following caption, “An old guy cuddles his cat as he helplessly watches his house burn directly in front of his eyes in Turkey's Bolu province on Jan. 17, 2018. (AA Photo).”