Claim: A Facebook post has a claim that an 8-year-old Ukrainian little girl confronted a Russian combatant, telling him to go back to his country.
The picture of the alleged Ukrainian girl has been shared on the internet numerous times. It has been established that the image is from a video of a Palestinian girl, Ahed Tamimi and an Isreali soldier. Hence, the claim is false.
Full Text
Russia-Ukraine news stories have dominated major news platforms across the world since Russia invaded Ukraine. This, like most prominent topics, has made its way to
social media, where users have been sharing multiple reports that have garnered widespread attention.
In the wake of the tension, different types of posts have been shared on social media. One of such posts was made on Facebook on Sunday by Atar News, a Facebook page with more than 12,000 followers.
The Facebook page claimed an 8-year-old Ukrainian little girl confronted a Russian combatant telling him to go back to his country.
The same claim was made on another Facebook page, Primeguard Media, attracting 228 shares and 84 comments since it was posted on Sunday. Several comments on the post indicate that some users believed the claim while others stated that this was not the case.
Similarly, the post was shared on Nairaland, a popular Nigerian blog.
Claims made during a crisis can exacerbate tensions and, in some cases, exaggerate the real situation. As a result of its virality and delicate nature, Dubawa chose to verify this claim.
Verification
A Google Reverse Image Search of the image showed the image had appeared numerous times on the internet.
Further checks revealed that Mirror shared a video of the supposed Ukrainian girl on its website in 2015. The video is of a fiery young Palestinian girl confronting a soldier and demanding to know where the Israeli Defense Forces have taken her brother.
The video of the Palestinian girl identified as Ahed Tamimi was shared on YouTube in 2012, attracting 700,000 views.
We observed that the image of the girl and the soldier is a screenshot from the video shared on the internet years back.
As reported by The Guardian, Ahed Tamimi, at 17 accepted a plea deal under which she served eight months in prison after reportedly slapping Israeli soldiers. She is, however, best known for a face off with an Israeli soldier asking “Where is my brother?”
The pictures of the Palestinian girl have been used by different sources and for different reasons in different years. DUBAWA has established that the picture has nothing to do with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The alleged Ukrainian girl is a Palestinian while the alleged Russia soldier is an Isreali.
Conclusion
While the Russian-Ukrainian tensions may have been a source of speculations, the image of the alleged Ukrainian girl and a soldier is not related to the Russian-Ukrainian tensions. More so, the alleged girl in the video has been identified to be Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian resistance icon.
