An old video showing an American aid worker fearlessly running through gunfire from ISIS to save a little girl, is being shared falsely claiming that the video is from Ukraine after Russian forces invaded the country.
On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is launching a 'special military operation' in Ukraine, following which Russia invaded the country. Ukraine is currently witnessing conflict in several cities including the capital Kyiv, with constant Russian airstrikes. Russia has faced condemnation from several countries for waging war, with footage of distress and hardships in Ukraine flooding social media.
In the viral video, a man wearing a bulletproof vest over a black T-shirt can be seen running and bringing a young girl back to safety as two other soldiers give him cover by opening fire at an enemy position.
The video is being shared with the caption when translated reads, "#Russia #Ukraine War: If you want to see real hero then don't miss this video Salute"
The clip has been overlaid with a Hindi song.
(In Hindi - Russia Ukraine war: असली हीरो देखना चाहते हो तो ये वीडियो मिस मत करना सैल्यूट)
The same video is being shared widely on Facebook with the false claim
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from June 2017 in Mosul, Iraq when a US aid worker braved ISIS gunfire to rescue a little girl.
On running a reverse image search using Google Images, we found news reports from June 2017 stating that the incident was from Mosul, Iraq.
We found that same video published by CBS News with the headline, "American aid worker runs through ISIS gunfire to save little girl". The report states that the man seen rescuing the young girl in the video is David Eubank, a US aid worker, who had darted past ISIS snipers to save her. The report also carries an interview with Eubank on the incident where he further says that the young girl's family is presumed dead and he learned that the Iraqi general he was with has plans to adopt her.
Nabih Bulos, Staff foreign correspondent in the Middle East for the LA Times had posted the video on YouTube on June 9, 2017, with the caption, "A video from the Free Burma Rangers films David Eubank in a dramatic rescue of a little girl in West Mosul."
We can see the same sequence of events in this video as in the viral video.
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Additional inputs by Sujith A
