A video made by Ukrainian militants attached to the so-called Russian Freedom Legion purporting to show they had taken control of the Russian border village of Tetkino on Wednesday was quickly shown to have been filmed from Ukrainian territory.
The short clip posted to the social media accounts of the Legion shows the armed group kneeling by a house they claimed was in Tetkino in Russia’s Kursk Region, which is right on the border between the two countries. The fighters explained that the road sign bearing the name of the village was farther along the street but suggested that it was too dangerous to venture forward to show it with combat still raging in the area.
The claim, however, promptly fell flat as online viewers – both Russian and Ukrainian – pointed out that the distinctive house with blue brick ornamentation and corresponding decor featured in the video is actually located in the nearby Ukrainian village of Rzhevka, some 300 meters away from Tetkino. The same house had been repeatedly photographed with Russian troops distributing humanitarian aid nearby when the area was briefly controlled by Moscow early in the conflict.