This Video Of A Fight In The Ukrainian Parliament Is Outdated
The Claim
A video shows a fight in the Ukrainian parliament.
News posted on
Emerging story
A video recently emerged from social media users of a fight in the Ukrainian Parliament, where members of Parliament were throwing eggs at the parliamentary speaker and several black umbrellas protected him. Smoking bombs were also thrown and some of the members of parliament were fighting each other.
Some social media users shared the video alongside the caption, “What’s going on in the Ukrainian parliament?”
The video drove social media users to think that the members of the Parliament were fighting over the financial aid sent to Ukraine by various countries following Russia’s invasion.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and found it to be misleading. The video is outdated and has no connection with the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
The Video of a Fight in the Ukrainian Parliament Was Filmed A Decade Ago
Through a reverse image search, Misbar’s team was able to trace the origins of the video and found that the video showed a fight that happened in April 2010 in Ukraine's Parliament in Kyiv.
The fight was reported by many news agencies back then, including DW.
Also, BBC Monitoring posted this video in December 2012, confirming that it shows a fight in the Ukrainian Parliament from 2010. The title of the video reads, “First fight in Ukrainian parliament - April 2010.”
How Did The Fight In The Ukrainian Parliament Break Out
It was reported that the fight broke over the vote of an agreement allowing the Russian Navy to extend its stay in a Ukrainian port until 2042. Supporters and opponents of the agreement scuffled. Viktor Yanukovich, the former president of Ukraine, approved this agreement in exchange for a 30 percent cut in the price of Russian gas to Ukraine, which could be considered a boon to Kyiv's struggling economy back then.
Members of parliament were asked to vote on the agreement but some of them opposed the idea describing it as a betrayal, and the scuffles broke out. The speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, was pelted with eggs. However, his bodyguards covered him with two black umbrellas, but those who supported the agreement joined the fight and started attacking one of the parliamentarians as some filled the place.
“There is no alternative to this decision -- because ratification means a lower price for gas and a lower price for gas means the budget,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said back then.
Financial Aid Sent To Ukraine
Since the war between Russia and Ukraine began, many countries have sent financial assistance to Ukraine. More than $75 billion was sent to Ukraine by the U.S. to assist it with humanitarian, financial, and military support.
Estonia too sent many financial assists to Ukraine. According to the Kiel Institute, a research institute in Germany for globalization issues, Estonia helped Ukraine with a pledge of 1.1% of its GDP, and Latvia helped Ukraine with a pledge of 0.98%, while the U.S. helped Ukraine with a pledge of 0.37%. However, the country that committed the most aid to Ukraine from January 2022 to January 2023 is the U.S. with approximately $75 billion as aforementioned.
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