A fabricated video mimicking Euronews has spread online, falsely claiming that a Ukrainian soldier killed three NATO troops during a training exercise in Latvia.
The video alleges that a soldier opened fire during NATO’s Baltic Trust 2026 exercise— which was indeed held—killing three service members before committing suicide.
In reality, no such shooting occurred, and the video was not produced or released by Euronews.
The clip, viewed over two million times, was posted on X on 14 August, masquerading as Euronews by using the network’s branding and visual style to lend credibility to the fabricated story.
No corroborating report appears on Euronews’s website or its verified social channels, and comprehensive web searches reveal no credible news coverage of any such incident.
Lies based on truth
The disinformation hinges on one factual element: NATO’s Baltic Trust 2026, a real exercise conducted in Riga, Latvia, from 3 to 14 August.
The exercise centered on training and evaluating technologies for detecting and countering unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones.
Latvia’s National Armed Forces issued a clear denial, stating that no such incident occurred, following the spread of the false Euronews report.
“No such event has taken place, and the exercises are proceeding without incident,” the military’s official X account stated on 14 August.
“This is a coordinated disinformation campaign,” the statement added, reiterating that the incident never happened and hinting at Russian influence operations, and concluded with the hashtag #RussiaAlwaysLies.
This episode is not isolated; Euronews’s brand has repeatedly been hijacked in Russian‑linked disinformation campaigns that often target Ukrainians.
During the Milan‑Cortina Winter Olympics, multiple manipulated Euronews videos were circulated, falsely accusing Ukrainian refugees and athletes of crimes and misconduct.
One such video, viewed over 114,000 times on X, falsely alleged that Ukrainian refugees had robbed an Euronews reporting team at the Games.
Another clip claimed that Ukrainian supporters vandalized cultural sites in Milan after the disqualification of skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych.
In yet another case, a pro‑Russian Telegram channel disseminated altered footage featuring AI‑generated voice‑overs that mimicked real Euronews journalists; one of these reports falsely claimed that European pension systems were being strained by government spending on Ukrainian refugees.
These operations aim to discredit Ukraine, erode allied support during Russia’s ongoing invasion, and cast suspicion on the credibility of legitimate news organizations.
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