Video footage of Javelin missiles and explosion is not from Ukraine

A Facebook video that claims to show footage from Ukraine consists of repurposed video from other events — one more in an onslaught of fake videos circulating since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The headline on the March 12 video says, "Massive explosion as Ukraine Destroyed 280 Russian tanks to pieces using US Javelin missiles." It begins with footage of a Javelin missile being fired and soaring past a landscape of snow-covered trees, then shows an explosion in the distance.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The footage at the beginning of the video is from a U.S. National Guard video about a trainee learning to use Javelin missiles. Other footage came from a 2021 story about the Donbass region of Ukraine.

The opening moments of the 8-minute Facebook video show a Javelin antitank missile being fired, then an explosion in the distance. It is a zoomed-in version of the opening footage from a video posted Jan. 3 on Facebook by the National Guard. The caption on the National Guard video says, "​​(Sgt.) Latrisha Dillon was the only woman in her Javelin training course. Now she's the first female Montana Army National Guard Soldier to be Javelin-certified."

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on November 10, 2024 in a Threads post

“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says that ‘if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance.’”

The Facebook video shows footage of the explosion right away, while the National Guard video first includes comments from the trainee, then shows the explosion at the 20-second mark. But the images of the explosion are identical in the two videos.

At the 6:08 mark in the Facebook video, the original, zoomed-out version of the National Guard footage appears.

After the opening scene of the Facebook video, at the 9-second mark, one person with a Javelin and a man holding binoculars are shown. It’s an image that was first published in an Oct. 17, 2021, story about the Donbass region of Ukraine.

The rest of the Facebook video appears to be a mishmash of footage from other sources. For example, at the 2:31 mark, the image that’s used also appeared in a March 8 video about Ukraine by NBC News, at the 29-second mark.

We rate the claim that a video shows a massive explosion as Ukraine destroyed Russian tanks with U.S. Javelin missiles False.