Video Game Footage Viral As Visuals Of Russian Air Strike On Ukraine

An old clip culled from a video game named 'War Thunder' showing missiles being launched, is viral with a false claim it shows Russian air strikes over Ukraine.

BOOM found that the video is from at least 2021 and was uploaded on several gaming channels on YouTube as footage of Iron Dome in the War Thunder game.

The video is being shared on Facebook, Twitter with the false claim as Russia launched attacks and started an invasion of Ukraine . Russian forces entered Ukraine from several points after President Vladimir Putin announced that "special military operation" has been authorised. Reports indicate locals hearing explosions in Kyiv, capital city of Ukraine and other parts of the country.

The video is being shared on Facebook and Twitter with the caption, "Russia is invading Ukraine"

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FACT CHECK

We noticed several replies on Twitter saying the video is from a game called War Thunder and shows an Iron Dome like sequence in the game. Using the replies as a cue, we ran a keyword search and found videos on YouTube from December 2021 titled, Iron Dome in War Thunder.

We also found that the same account Pandromodi had played the video as part of a live streaming countdown for the Winged Lions update of the War Thunder game.

The video was uploaded on December 13, 2021.

Watch the same live stream below :

According to the website, War Thunder is an multiplayer vehicular combat video game developed and published by Gaijin Entertainment.