No NATO troops in Ukraine, NATO says

A Sept. 27 Facebook post billed as a "huge" World War III "development" suggests that NATO has sent troops to fight Russia in Ukraine. 

"NATO troops deployed to Ukraine," the post says. 

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The post includes a nearly eight-minute video in which a man voices his support for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 White House candidacy and reiterates the claim that NATO has troops in Ukraine. His source: Russian media. But we found no credible news reports or other reliable evidence to corroborate this. 

A NATO spokesperson told us that the claim is false. 

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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.’”

"There are no NATO troops inside Ukraine," NATO press officer Matthias Eichenlaub said. 

This echoes information on NATO’s website, which explains why NATO isn’t "sending troops or closing skies over Ukraine."

"NATO’s actions are defensive, designed not to provoke conflict but to prevent conflict," the site says. "The alliance has a responsibility to ensure that this war does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine, which would be even more devastating and dangerous. Enforcing a no-fly zone would bring NATO forces into direct conflict with Russia. This would significantly escalate the war and lead to more human suffering and destruction for all countries involved."

We rate this post False.