FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show Russians Running Away After A Ukrainian Strike?

A video shared on Facebook claims to show Russian soldiers running away after a Ukrainian strike.

Verdict: False

The video was taken in the aftermath of a fire at a Russian military base in 2015. It is unrelated to the current conflict in Ukraine.

Fact Check:

Ukraine has struck several Russian munitions depots and command posts with High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) strikes, according to The Washington Post. Russia claimed Aug. 9 to have destroyed a depot stocked with HIMARS munitions, Reuters reported.

The Facebook video, which shows clouds of black smoke and soldiers running away, claims to show the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike “on the Brilevka railway station in the Kherson region.” The claim was echoed on Twitter as well, with one iteration receiving over 950 retweets.

The video is miscaptioned. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found a nearly identical video was uploaded to YouTube in May 2015 with a Russian-language title that translates to, “Russian Federation, Rostov region Warehouse on fire.” (RELATED: No, This Is Not Footage Of A Ukrainian Missile Blowing Up A Russian Naval Vessel)

The video appears to show Russian soldiers fleeing fires and explosions that erupted a the Kuzminka military base in 2015, according to The New York Times. The Russian military said the cause of the fire was a short circuit in an armored vehicle that injured six soldiers and destroyed 30 vehicles, the outlet reported. An image of the Russian soldiers fleeing, which appears to be a screen grab from the video uploaded on YouTube, was published as part of The New York Times report about the incident.

This is not the first time old footage has been shared on social media with a false claim that it stems from the current conflict in Ukraine. In April, Check Your Fact debunked an image claiming to show Russian soldiers raising the Soviet flag in Mariupol.

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