Fact Check: BBC News Did NOT Broadcast Stock Footage Of Military Scenes As If Live War Coverage
Did this video showing live gun and tank battles originate as a BBC News broadcast about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? No, that’s not true: This footage did not come from a live news report of a real battle. The footage was filmed in a controlled environment and posted on a royalty-free stock footage website before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The video was made with several clips from the Ukrainian videographer Alex Kopeykin. He shared these scenes on the stock footage website Pixabay in 2020 and 2021. The video montage was posted on Facebook by B.P.production on March 1, 2021, with the caption:
Ukraine vs russia live BBC news
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Image source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Mar 28 16:34:17 2022 UTC)
The clip in the screenshot above was posted on Kopeykin’s Pixabay page on January 8, 2021, with the tags “War,” “Armored Car,” “Weapons,” “Soldier,” “Brave” and “Fire.”
Kopeykin does not only share videos of military scenes. His video collection also includes footage of everyday life: family, shopping, industry, nature, food, children and playgrounds. Below, additional thumbnails (here and here) of military-themed video clips that appear in the video montage can be seen alongside other examples of Kopeykin’s work.
(Image source: pixabay screenshot taken on Mon Mar 28 17:41:47 2022 UTC)
Another video clip from Kopeykin used in the video montage imitates footage of a wounded soldier being dragged from battle. At least one of Kopeykin’s video clips used in the video montage was published on Pixabay in 2020.
In a response to checkyourfact.com, Kopeykin said the video was filmed in 2018 at a training ground.
This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Lead Stories can be found here.
