Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has attracted global notice, and not just from world leaders. People have documented the events of the war on social media, exposing its realities to people across the globe. But others have taken advantage of this online attention to post photos and videos falsely attributed to the war in Ukraine.
One viral image from Facebook depicts a helicopter airlifting a red tractor with mountains in the background. The caption reads, “NATO resupplying Ukrainian farmers anti-tank supplies.” The caption is a reference to a number of photos and videos emerging from Ukraine of farmers towing abandoned Russian tanks with their tractors.
THE QUESTION
Does this viral image show a NATO helicopter delivering tractors to Ukrainian farmers?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the viral image does not show a NATO helicopter delivering a tractor to Ukrainian farmers. The photo is from India in 2020.
WHAT WE FOUND
The photo originates from a Nov. 2, 2020 tweet posted by Mahindra Tractors, a company based in India that sells farm equipment.
In its tweet, Mahindra Tractors said its equipment was flying at 11,000 feet and urged commenters to guess in which part of the world the photos were taken.
On Oct. 27, 2020, India-based Asian News International posted two photos on Twitter of the same airlifted tractor seen in the Facebook post. It said the photos were of a “military helicopter Chinook being used to carry machinery, equipment & vehicles from Chamoli for construction work in Kedarnath.”
Kedarnath is a town in India’s Uttarakhand province nestled in the Himalaya Mountains. It sits at an altitude of about 11,745 feet.
The photo visible in the Mahindra Tractors tweet clearly shows the words “Indian Air Force” on the helicopter, as well as a bullseye symbol of orange, white and green toward the back of the helicopter. That symbol is the roundel of the Indian Air Force.
India is not a member of NATO.
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