Amid the chaos of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, images of bombed areas and people fleeing the fighting have emerged online. One post claims to show a Russian airplane going down in flames.
"Here's Russia currently invading Ukraine," reads the caption of a Feb. 24 post featuring an image of a plane engulfed in flames. The post was shared about 70 times within a day.
Another Feb. 24 Facebook post with a similar caption and the same image received over 500 reactions in just a few hours before it was deleted by the user, who told USA TODAY they removed it after realizing they "were duped."
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On Twitter, the image was shared thousands of times after local news outlet Kyiv Post and a reporter at The Kyiv Independent posted it, claiming the plane was shot down. The Kyiv Post's tweet was taken down by Twitter, which said it violated its rules.
As other fact-checking organizations have reported, the image doesn't show a Russian jet downed by Ukrainian forces. It was taken almost three decades ago after an aircraft accident in the United Kingdom.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who posted the image for comment.
The story behind the photo has nothing to do with an international conflict.
The photo was taken in July 1993 in Fairford, England, according to Carl Ford, who...
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