No, Ukraine’s military is not camouflaging tanks as houses

Social media users are claiming Ukraine’s military forces are using a camouflaging technique that’s close to home.

A June 5 Instagram reel shows a house moving through a grassy field. Text on the post reads, “a Ukrainian tank uses a house as camouflage.”

“That may very well be the best camouflage I’ve seen for a tank,” a person in the reel said.

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The video and claim were also shared on TikTok and Reddit.

But a reverse-image search revealed the house is not a Ukrainian tank in disguise. And the video predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

We found the video appeared nearly three years ago in Ukrainian news reports. A September 2020 YouTube video from the Ukrainian TV channel “34 телеканал” said a folk craftsman had converted an old “Zaporozhets,” a supermini-style car built during Soviet-era Ukraine, into “a house on wheels.”

An October 2020 article from the news outlet RBC-Ukraine said the car was decorated to look like a Ukrainian village house. The car motor was hidden, and the driver’s seat was built into the floor. Side mirrors that would normally be on a car were replaced with cameras inside the structure, RBC-Ukraine reported.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, there have been numerous false and misleading claims about the war and both countries’ military units.

We rate the claim that a Ukrainian tank is using a house as camouflage False.

By

Sara Swann

Digital Research Analyst

June 14, 2023

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• The video does not show a Ukrainian military tank. It’s a car a Ukrainian folk craftsman converted into a "house on wheels."

• A reverse-image search revealed the video was from 2020, which predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Statement

“A Ukrainian tank uses a house as camouflage.”

Context

an Instagram reel

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Instagram posts

Statement Date

June 5, 2023