A claim that NATO has sent fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country fight invading Russian forces was shared by multiple social media posts in August 2022. The claim, however, is false. While there was a proposal in March to supply Ukraine with Soviet-era jets through a US air base, Washington rejected the idea over fears it could escalate the conflict. Separately, NATO's press office told AFP that the claim was "not accurate".
The claim was shared on Facebook here on August 8, 2022.
The post links to a page titled "Finally: NATO's Most Lethal Fighter Jets Arrive in Ukraine" whose thumbnail shows a partially disassembled fighter jet being unloaded from a cargo plane.
The page includes an embedded YouTube video with the same title and thumbnail that was uploaded on August 6 and has more than 335,000 views.
A voiceover in the video says the transfer of fighter jets to Ukraine is a "possibility" but adds that the move has been "actively discussed". The rest of the video details the capabilities of various US military aircraft.
The claim and links to the video were also shared on Facebook here; and on Twitter here and here.
AFP reported in March 2022 that Poland -- a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) -- had proposed supplying Ukraine with its Soviet-era MiG-29 jets through a US air force base.
Warsaw suggested the US would then replace these jets in Poland's fleet with American F-16 fighter jets.
The plan was rejected by Washington as being too "high...
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