Gaming simulation video is falsely shared as real footage of the ongoing June 2025 Russia-Ukraine conflict
As of early June 2025, the Russia-Ukraine war has intensified after Ukraine executed a series of bold drone strikes deep within Russian territory, targeting key military installations. Notably, Operation Spiderweb involved attacks on four Russian airbases, resulting in the destruction of numerous strategic bombers and causing substantial damage to Russia’s military infrastructure. These actions have been accompanied by ongoing Russian missile and drone assaults on Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Sumy, leading to civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. Amidst these developments, peace talks in Istanbul have yielded limited progress, with both sides remaining far apart on key issues.
Amidst this, a video claiming to show Ukraine attacks destroying 40 Russian nuclear-capable bombers in a drone strike on Russian airbases is being circulated on social media platforms (here, here, and here). Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: The video shows that Ukraine destroyed 40 Russian nuclear-capable bombers in a drone strike on Russian airbases in June 2025.
Fact: The viral video does not show Ukraine destroying 40 Russian nuclear-capable bombers in a drone strike in June 2025. The footage is from the military simulation game Arma 3, created for entertainment and educational purposes, not real events. While Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb targeted multiple Russian airbases on 01 June 2025, Russian officials confirmed damage only at Murmansk and Irkutsk bases. Authentic footage of the attacks differs from the viral video. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the claim, we performed a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video. This led us to an extended version (archived) of the same video uploaded on a YouTube channel named UWC on 01 June 2025, titled “40 RUSSIAN STRATEGIC Bombers TU-95 Destroyed in Daring Ukrainian FPV-Drone Swarm Raid.” The video description clearly stated that the visuals are from Arma 3 (a military simulation video game) and not real footage. It also mentioned that the video was created for entertainment and educational purposes using content from Bohemia Interactive a.s.
Upon reviewing the UWC YouTube channel, we found several similar videos depicting fictional war visuals created using the military simulation video game ARMA 3 (here, here, and here). The channel’s description mentioned that all videos are simulations of combat operations in the game and are not real.
It is important to note that on 01 June 2025, over 100 Ukrainian drones reportedly targeted Russian air force bases in an operation named ‘Spider Web’, focusing on aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Reports quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as saying that the attacks took place in five regions, Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur—but claimed that aircrafts were damaged only in Murmansk and Irkutsk, while attacks in other areas were thwarted. The actual footage of this attack, seen in multiple news reports (here, here, and here), differs from the viral video being circulated online.
To sum up, a gaming simulation video is falsely shared as real footage of the ongoing June 2025 Russia-Ukraine conflict.