A TikTok social media account published material yesterday claiming that members of the Russian mercenary group Wagner were seen moving from Mitrovica towards Leposavic.
In this material, this account has also posted two images showing several soldiers.
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that both photos are old, one showing members of the Wagner group, the other several members of the Ukrainian territorial defense battalions.
Link to the post published on TikTok by the account "babajaga454":
https://www.tiktok.com/@babajaga454/video/7307271586531396896
After research conducted through the automated program "InVID", hibrid.info managed to find both photos.
The first photo showing several members of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has been confirmed to be old, published on May 5, 2023 in an article by the French media outlet LeMonde. (see here)
It also features the former leader of this mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died on August 23, 2023. (see here and here)
The other image, confirmed to depict members of Ukraine's territorial defense battalions, was taken on February 19, 2022.
This photo was found and published in the French media “L'Express”. (see here)
Analyze:
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the aforementioned TikTok account used old photos, falsely claiming that they depict members of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, who have entered Kosovo.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this material as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.