Old video shared as recent footage of Ukrainian troops ‘surrendering’ in Kursk

Posts claiming to show a video of Ukrainian soldiers surrendering in the Kursk region this week are circulating on social media. But this is not recent footage.

The clip shows large numbers of people dressed in combat clothes marching with their hands in the air. Overlaid text says: “Zelensky’s army is surrendering en masse in Kursk, Russia 11.03.2025”. 

The same footage has also been shared on TikTok with the caption: “Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers surrender to Russian forces after several hours of exhausting fighting in the region of Sudzha, Kursk Russia.”

Ukraine captured territory in the Kursk region in western Russia in August 2024, but a recent Russian counteroffensive has been regaining this territory and Ukraine forces have reportedly been pulling back. Reuters reported on 13 March that President Putin had claimed Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk were cut off while the Ukraine military denied they were being encircled.

But the clip being shared on social media predates these events and has been online since at least 4 April 2022. It was shared by state-run media in Belarus with claims it showed Ukrainian Navy marines voluntarily surrendering in Mariupol in southeast Ukraine, which is now occupied by Russia following an almost three month siege of the city. But Full Fact has been unable to verify what the video actually depicts.

The clip also appeared in a longer video report that features the emblem for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in the Donbas region. Russian media claimed 267 troops from the 503rd Battalion of the 36th separate marine brigade of the Ukrainian Navy surrendered in Mariupol. 

However, Ukraine’s 503rd Marine Battalion reportedly denied allegations that its troops surrendered. The Associated Press said it couldn’t independently verify claims from the Russian military that over 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered. 

You can find more of our work checking claims relating to the war in Ukraine on our website, including many other examples of images and videos being miscaptioned. It’s important to consider whether something shows what it claims to before sharing it—you can read more about this in our guides on how to fact check misleading images and videos.