WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The BBC reported on a foiled attempt by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s wife Olena to flee Ukraine.
OUR VERDICT
False. The news report is fake and is believed to be part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
AAP FACTCHECK - The BBC has not reported that Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, is being kept under armed guard after trying to flee the country.
The British broadcaster confirmed the report is a fake, and experts say the video is part of a Russian disinformation operation.
A video spreading on X and Facebook resembles an authentic BBC social media video, featuring the same logo, format and fonts used by the public broadcaster.
Over footage of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy's wife, captions claim she "is unavailable to the media due to her failed escape attempt" to an unnamed European country.
The video goes on to claim that she is now being kept under armed guard by the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine).
"The alleged reason for the escape is a strained relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of unspecified political disagreements," it says.
A BBC spokesperson told AAP FactCheck that the video was not a genuine news report and was false.
A Google search also returned no credible news reports by the BBC or any other news organisation about Ms Zelenska attempting to flee Ukraine, and only returned links to articles debunking the fake video.
The video is part of a Russian campaign to flood the internet with fake content, says Amaury Lesplingart, co-founder and chief technology officer of Finnish analytics firm CheckFirst, which combats disinformation.
The campaign, dubbed 'Operation Overload,' he says, aims to flood social media with pro-Kremlin content and "overload the global disinformation research and fact-checking community."
He says the view counts on the fake videos are inflated by non-human traffic, giving a false impression of high engagement.
"Olena Zelenska has become a recurrent target of Operation Overload. Over the past week alone we've seen several spurious narratives," Mr Lesplingart told AAP FactCheck.
CheckFirst has previously linked fake videos impersonating international media organisations to Russian actors, BBC Verify reports.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked Russian disinformation content about Ukraine, including other false media reports and rumours about President Zelenskiy.
The claim about Ms Zelenska has also been debunked by Full Fact, Reuters, Euronews and Logically Facts.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
