What was claimed
Footage of a plane being fired at shows the war in Ukraine.
Our verdict
This is false. The footage is from a video game called Arma 3.
Footage of plane under fire is from a video game, not Ukraine
11 March 2022
A video that appears to show a plane being fired at with the caption “Russia launches battle with Ukraine” has been viewed 2.5 million times on Facebook. But this video doesn’t depict the war in Ukraine. It’s actually just footage from a video game.
The video, which lasts for more than five minutes, depicts heavy fire at an aeroplane which continues to fly before finally bursting into flames. The footage, particularly the landscape and the neon shooting effect, looks very similar to a video game called Arma 3.
Full Fact contacted the games’ developer, Bohemia Interactive, and asked if it could confirm the footage was from Arma 3. A spokesperson told us the video was taken from heavily modified footage of the game.
We have seen several examples of video game footage being shared on social media falsely claiming to show the conflict in Ukraine, and have previously checked other videos sharing footage from Arma 3 and other games. Other fact checkers have also identified different clips from Arma 3 being shared on social media in this way.
To find out more about how to verify videos from the war in Ukraine, read our blog post on the subject.