A video circulating widely on social media claims to show NATO forces striking Moscow at night, in what users have described as an "escalation" and an attempt by the Western alliance to start a "nuclear war".
Users claim, without evidence, that the strike occurred earlier this month, on the eve of the 2 June peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul.
Known US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones shared the false claim on his X account, garnering more than 2 million views.
"NATO is openly trying to start a nuclear war with Russia. Moscow is under attack again. The night before the peace talks," Jones wrote.
Euroverify detected the unfounded allegations spreading on Facebook, TikTok and X in at least five European languages.
We used a reverse image search to identify the origin of the video, and found that it has been available since December 2023.
A closer analysis found that it shows an attack by Ukraine's air forces on a Russian warship known as Novocherkassk in the port of Feodosia in Crimea, which Russia occupied and unilaterally annexed in 2014.
One person was killed in that attack and several others injured, according to media reports.
The footage corresponds to Euronews' reporting of that event on 26 December 2023.
The misrepresentation of the video comes amid increasing disinformation about Russia's war in Ukraine.
Targeted disinformation operations aimed at undermining the credibility of the NATO Alliance are also on the rise.
NATO troops have not directly engaged in any military activity as part of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but do supply Ukrainian armed forces with military equipment and arms, including long-range missiles.
