Kyiv Post Fact-Check: Debunking a Misleading Video on the Tambov Powder Factory Explosion

A number of Ukrainian media and Telegram channels today published a video of the alleged consequences of the attack on the Tambov powder factory in Kotovsk (Russia).

According to Kyiv Post sources in the Ukrainian special services, the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) of the Ministry of Defense was behind this strike.

However, Kyiv Post fact-checking shows that one video shared via Ukrainian Telegram channels and in Ukrainian mass media is fake. In reality, it records the consequences of the explosion at the Russian factory "Avangard" in the city of Gatchyna, which happened back in 2018.

This video was first published on Friday, January 19, at 10:17 a.m. on the Telegram channel of the Avia.pro news agency with its watermark. The Avia.pro website states that it is a federal news agency "that distributes news from Russia and the near abroad from its own correspondents, affiliated agencies, and partners."

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However, this video was later reproduced by Ukrainian Telegram channels and mass media.

Kyiv Post noticed the publication for the first time in the Ukraine Now Telegram channel, which has more than 620,000 subscribers.

Similar publications with a fake video were also published by Ukrainian media - 24 Channel, Liga.net, Obozrevatel.

Suspicions about the video in our editorial office arose against the background of the fact that, according to Russian media, there have been two explosions at this plant in the past year: in June and November. So we decided to check if the video really captured the results of today's attack and not the previous explosions.

Kyiv Post took a screenshot of the video published by the Avia.pro Telegram channel. When searching for the image, Google offered us as a photo source a publication on the Russian website KP.ru with the title "The body of the fifth victim was found under the rubble of the exploded Avangard plant in Gatchina."

After that, Kyiv Post started searching Google for materials related to the explosion at the Russian Avangard plant in the city of Gatchina. By searching, we found a video published by the Euronews in Russian channel on YouTube on October 19, 2018. After watching it, we saw footage that the Avia.pro Telegram channel presented as the consequences of the explosion at the Tambov powder factory.

Footage from this video was used by the Russian Telegram channel, publishing this video from 2018 for the consequences of today's attack on the plant in Tambov.

It should be noted that at the time of publication of this fact-checking, Avia.pro removed the video from the publication on Telegram.

The explosion at the "Avangard" pyrotechnic factory in Gatchina, Leningrad region of Russia, occurred on October 19, 2018. Based on this fact, the Investigative Committee of Russia violated Article 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Five people died as a result of the explosion at the pyrotechnic factory.