Old visuals of the Beirut explosion are passed off as Russia taking down British cargo ships in Ukraine - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 31, 2023
A video compilation featuring various instances of a large explosion is currently being shared, accompanied by a statement alleging that the footage shows Russian missiles targeting two British cargo ships transporting high explosives to Ukraine. The explosion allegedly happened at the port of Odesa, Ukraine. Through this article let’s fact-check the veracity of the video shared in the post.
Claim: Visuals depicting Russian missiles taking down two British cargo ships transporting high explosives to Ukraine.
Fact: These visuals actually show the massive chemical explosion that struck Beirut’s port, in August 2020. Additionally, there are no reports of Russia taking down British cargo ships at the port of Odessa, Ukraine. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Firstly, there are no reports of Russian missiles targeting and causing the destruction of two British cargo ships near the port of Odesa, Ukraine. Additionally, the viral visuals shared in the post are three years old and are actually related to the Beirut explosion of 2020.
Conducting a reverse image search of the viral visuals led to the discovery of several news reports featuring similar images (here, here & here). According to these reports, the visuals actually depict the massive chemical explosion that struck Beirut’s port, causing widespread devastation in the Lebanese capital and resulting in the loss of over 150 lives in August 2020. The explosion was initiated by a fire that broke out in a warehouse at the port, where a substantial quantity of hazardous ammonium nitrate had been stored for an extended period.
Furthermore, additional news reports and social media posts containing similar visuals (here, here, here, here & here) are available online. These reports also corroborate that the visuals are connected to the 2020 Beirut explosion. As previously mentioned, if the claimed explosion involving Russian missiles had actually occurred, it is highly likely that the media would have covered it extensively. However, our search did not yield any such report.
To sum it up, old visuals of the Beirut explosion are passed off as Russia taking down British cargo ships in Ukraine.