A video impersonating Euronews has circulated online with the false allegation that a Ukrainian soldier shot and killed three NATO servicemen during a military exercise in Latvia.
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The report claims that a soldier opened fire during NATO’s Baltic Trust 2026 exercise, an event that did occur, killing three servicemen before taking his own life.
The shooting did not happen, and the video was not produced or published by Euronews.
The clip, which garnered more than 2 million views, was shared on X on 14 August and uses Euronews’ name and visual style to make the invented story appear to come from a legitimate news organisation.
No corresponding report can be found on Euronews’ website or its official social media accounts, whilst web searches found no credible news coverage of the alleged deaths.
Lies based on truth
The report incorporates one genuine detail: NATO’s Baltic Trust exercise, which took place in the Latvian capital of Riga between 3 and 14 August.
The exercise focused on training and testing technology used to detect and counter unmanned aircraft systems, or drones.
Latvia’s National Armed Forces explicitly denied that the alleged shooting had taken place after the fake Euronews report gained traction online.
“Such an incident has not occurred, and the exercises are taking place without incident,” the military said in a statement published on its official X account on 14 August.
“We inform you that this is a coordinated disinformation campaign – such an incident has not occurred, and the exercises are proceeding without incidents,” the statement said, implying the post was connected to a Russian influence operation. It added a hashtag saying “#RussiaAlwaysLies”.
It’s not the first time Euronews’ identity has been connected to Russian-linked disinformation campaigns to spread false narratives, much of it targeting Ukrainians.
During the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, a series of doctored Euronews videos falsely accused Ukrainian refugees and athletes of criminal or antisocial behaviour.
One video, viewed more than 114,000 times on X, falsely claimed that Ukrainian refugees had robbed a Euronews crew covering the Games.
Another alleged that Ukrainian supporters vandalised cultural sites in Milan following the disqualification of skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych.
In a separate case, doctored clips shared by a pro-Russian Telegram channel used apparent AI-generated voiceovers based on the voices of real Euronews journalists, with one manipulated report claiming that European pension systems were suffering because of government spending on Ukrainian refugees.
Such disinformation campaigns are designed to discredit Ukraine and undermine support from its allies amid Russia’s invasion, as well as sow doubt about the work of legitimate news outlets.
