Online articles and social media posts claim almost 2,700 NATO soldiers and military trainers have died during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This is false; the military alliance has not deployed personnel to Ukraine and an official confirmed to AFP that none have been killed in the conflict.

"Ukraine: 157,000 soldiers dead," says a February 5, 2023 tweet. "234 Dead - NATO military trainers (US and UK). 2,458 Dead - NATO soldiers (Germany, Poland, Lithuania,etc)."

The post, published by an account called "Russian Market," accumulated thousands of shares -- thanks in part to Twitter owner Elon Musk.

"A tragic loss of life," the billionaire said in a February 6 reply to the tweet.

Eleven hours later, appearing to realize the numbers were wrong, Musk published a second tweet asking participants in Twitter's Community Notes moderation program to correct them.

Russian Market's post links to a January 25 article from a Turkish website called Hurseda Haber. The website, in turn, cites supposed data from Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency.

Screenshot from Twitter taken February 6, 2023

Claims of NATO casualties in Ukraine circulated elsewhere on Twitter, as well as platforms such as Reddit and Facebook.

The posts come as Russian forces advance toward Bakhmut and Vugledar, two key centers of fighting in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, now the flashpoint of Russia's intervention.

Russia has suffered 180,000 killed or wounded in Ukraine, while the figure for...

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