A video shared on Twitter claims to show Chechen troops hit by an explosion in Ukraine.

Chechen ‘Akhmat Sila’ obliterated somewhere on Southern Front in Ukraine… #Russia #Kadyrov #RussianArmy pic.twitter.com/CywdbYtZaP

— Skënderbeu (@AncientAlien01) June 16, 2023

Verdict: False

The video shows Azerbaijani troops in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Fact Check:

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov deployed his Akhmat battalion on the Russian border in the midst of border raids conducted by Russian fighters aligned with Ukraine, according to Newsweek.

The Twitter video claims to show Chechen troops being hit by an explosion. One iteration, viewed over 39,000 times, has over 100 retweets and 850 likes.

However, the video predates the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the video shows Azerbaijani troops being hit by an explosion during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. A video of the entire incident was uploaded to YouTube in June 2021.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, shared the video on Twitter in December 2020.

Video of Azerbaijani soldiers and border guards walking behind a tank during the conflict before it is struck, possibly by a mine. Later in the conflict, Azerbaijan would place MRAPs in front of tanks and BMPs during movements. (H/t @Caucasuswar) 2742/https://t.co/XXUq9j3Sq2 pic.twitter.com/529QcprSIn

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) December 14, 2020

“Video of Azerbaijani soldiers and border guards walking behind a tank during the conflict before it is struck, possibly by a mine. Later in the conflict, Azerbaijan would place MRAPs in front of tanks and BMPs during movements,” Lee tweeted.

Misinformation around the Russian-Ukrainian war is not new. Check Your Fact recently debunked a video claiming China was providing tanks to Ukraine. (RELATED: Image Of American Flags Draped Over Caskets Predates Russian-Ukrainian War)