Fact check: Picture of Kyiv man shooting out his window dates back to 2021

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·2 min read
3

The claim: Picture shows a mercenary in Kyiv trying to shoot down a drone from his window

Kyiv was attacked by dozens of armed, Russian drones on Oct. 17, leaving at least four people dead. Some social media users are sharing a picture they claim shows one man in the city attempting to fight back.

The image shows a man leaning out the window of a building while aiming a rifle toward the sky.

"Attempt by a mercenary in Kiev to shoot down a Russian drone kamikaze," reads the caption of an Oct. 17 Facebook post that includes the image.

The post garnered more than 100 likes in the first six hours. A similar version written in Finnish on Facebook garnered more than 800 likes in the first five hours.

But, the claim is false. The picture was captured in 2021 when Kyiv Police arrested a man for shooting out of the fourth-floor window of his apartment building.

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The user who shared the claim could not be reached for comment.

Image dates back to 2021

The picture was taken from a Facebook video the Kyiv Patrol Police shared on June 25, 2021. The video shows a man pointing a rifle out of a building window. The video also includes a picture of the man being arrested and two photos of the guns found in his possession.

"Patrol officers were called to Akademik Efremov Street," the video's caption reads in Ukrainian. "Several residents of the apartment building complained that they heard gunshots and screams from the fourth floor. Arriving at the scene, the patrol officers saw a man looking out of the window, holding an object that looked like a rifle."

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The 51-year-old man was then arrested by police.

The police department shared the same footage on its Twitter and Telegram pages at the time.

The claim has been debunked by Reuters as well.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a picture shows a mercenary in Kyiv trying to shoot down a drone from his window. The picture was captured in 2021 when Kyiv Police arrested a man for shooting out the fourth-floor window of his apartment building.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Picture of Kyiv man shooting out his window predates war