No, this man does not say goodbye to his daughter to fight against Russia

The revelation that the video depicting a man saying goodbye to his daughter in tears to fight against Russia is finally misinformation was made by the authoritative and certified service for the transparency of the sources "Ellinika Hoaxes".

According to the service, a video of a father separating from his daughter is shared in the electronic press and on social media. According to reports, the father is Ukrainian and is preparing to fight in the war against Russia. However, this claim is misleading. Let's see what applies.

Examples: tanea.gr, in.gr, reader.gr

What applies

First of all, it should be noted that the video in question, which is recycled on social media and news websites, has been cut. The original video was taken by a local resident in the town of Gorlovka in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region on February 21, 2022, about three hours before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, and was not declared public.

In particular, the Russian-backed leader of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic", Denis Pushilin, had already announced on February 18 the organized movement of civilians (women, children and the elderly) from Donetsk to Rostov-on-Don.

The movement of civilians was organized by the mayor of Gorlovka, Ivan Prichodko, who designated six departure points for the buses.

The first routes to Rostov started late in the afternoon of February 18, 2022, with transfers from these points taking place at least until the 22nd of the month.

The download location

To verify that the location of the video in question is in the town of Gorlovka, we analyzed the information it contained and then compared it with those from videos published in the local, electronic press. In particular, we identified similarities between buses that were assembled on February 18, 2022 in the central square of Gorlovka and those where the little girl and her mother boarded.

For example, both buses have colored "Z" shaped curves at the rear.

Similarly, we found that the ads that are stuck on the windows of the buses refer to the passenger transport company called "Premium Taxi", which operates in Gorlovka. [source]

Looking for information on Gorlovka's city bus services, we verified that the bus boarded by a mother and her daughter belonged to line 29b of the city's city buses.

Although Google does not offer Google Street View in Gorlovka, we tried to geo-locate the video location via Google Earth. In the first phase, we checked all the starting points of the buses that were leaving for Rostov. So we came to the Victory Square in Grolovka, at the beginning of which there is a fountain.

In a recent report published on the Russian RT YouTube channel, we find that the fountain, which is surrounded by fir trees, is covered by a white tarpaulin during the winter months.

The fountain and the tarpaulin that cover it are also found in the video in question.

Conclusion

According to the available information, the claim that the video in question shows a Ukrainian saying goodbye to his daughter and wife to go to war against Russia, is false. The man is a resident of the town of Gorlovka, which belongs to the autonomous region of Donetsk, and is saying goodbye to his family moving to Rostov, Russia.

Source: Ellinka Hoaxes

Ellinika Hoaxes is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network. corrections.