FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show A Ukrainian Refugee Attacking Passengers Aboard An Italian Train?

Hannah Hudnall | Fact Check Reporter

A video shared on Facebook allegedly shows a Ukrainian refugee yelling at and attacking passengers on a train in Italy.

Verdict: False

The video, filmed in 2018, shows two men attacking a Ukrainian woman and an Indian man. The video has nothing to do with the current refugee crisis.

Fact Check:

More than 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s initial Feb. 24 invasion, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The mayor of Warsaw, Poland is warning of potential shortages due to the added strain on the country’s resources, The Washington Post reported.

The Facebook video appears to show two men verbally and physically assaulting several passengers on a train. “Ukrainian refugee on a train in Italy, shouts, I am a Facist(sic) and attacks passengers,” the video’s caption claims.

The video predates the refugee crisis and does not show a refugee attacking passengers. A reverse image search revealed the video first appeared on YouTube Nov. 2, 2018, where it was posted by the Italian news outlet Adnkronos. “Rome, the shocking video of racist aggression in the metro,” reads a translated version of the video’s title.

“An attack that was first verbal and then also physical against an Indian boy and a woman who intervened to avoid the worst. This is what happened in the Rome underground,” the caption roughly translates to in English.

The original incident took place around 9:30pm on Nov. 1 on the Rome-Lido train and the victims were a 57-year-old Ukrainian woman and a 28-year-old Indian man, according to Roma Today. (RELATED: Do These Photos Show Black People Being Mistreated In Ukraine?)

The two 23-year-old men, later deemed to be Ukrainian, wore “black Neo-Nazi bomber jackets” and began attacking the Indian man before the woman tried to intervene, sustaining head and facial injuries, Italian news outlet Il Faro reported. The pair reportedly attempted to steal a suitcase from the man prior to the assault, the outlet reported.

Hannah Hudnall

Fact Check Reporter

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