Viral TikTok video of Russian paratroopers invading Ukraine debunked

TikTok video of Russian paratroopers in Ukraine was found to be fake (Image via @romanadler123/TikTok)

In the midst of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, a TikTok video of Russian paratroopers has gone viral. People believed that the video was recently shot and uploaded by the paratrooper but was later found to be fake.

This is not the only such footage that has been doing the rounds on social media, as the world is eager to find more updates about the conflict. The two countries have been on a tight rope since 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

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The video of Russian paratroopers is from 2015

The TikTok post has been viewed 26.8 million times and has received over 2.1 million likes. It shows a panoramic view of paratroopers with open parachutes and some waiting to jump off a plane. The person recording the video then turns the camera towards themselves and speaks something in Russian.

The video was uploaded on February 22, 2022 by user @romanadler123. But it has been found to be an old video, from 2015. The user had first posted the video on Instagram on August 25, 2015, which he repurposed this week. The timing confused users who believed that the video was recent and shot during the ongoing conflict.

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Netizens shocked by the video

The video has shocked internet users, who took to Twitter to share their feelings about the situation.

Russia launched "a special military operation" in Ukraine yesterday. The country launched an invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday, February 24, 2022, following a declaration of war by President Vladimir Putin.

It has been reported that the infamous "Chernobyl power plant" has already been taken over by Russian troops. The plant is known for its reactor explosion in 1986 which released massive amounts of radiation into the environment.

According to Anton Herashchenko, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser, any attack on the nuclear waste storage facility could result in a radioactive burst, which would cover Ukraine, Belarus and European Union countries.

As the conflict continues, many other fake videos have been popping up on the internet. Similar to the Russian paratroopers' video, footage of an explosion has shown up on various social media platforms but was later found to be from the Tianjin explosion in 2015.