Fact Check: No, this is not Dynamo Kyiv football squad geared up to face Russian invaders
India Today
We found that the claim of Ukrainian footballers taking part in the Ukraine war is misleading. The men in the picture are not players of Dynamo Kyiv football club.
Ukrainian footballers Vitalii Sapylo and Dmytro Martynenko were recognised as the football fraternity's first casualties in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Not long after the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIPRO) broke the news of their demise, another bit of “news” from the conflict zone made splashes across social media.
A virally shared post claimed that players from prominent Ukrainian football team Dynamo Kyiv decided to take arms against the invading Russian forces. The claim came along with a group photo of men in military outfits holding guns.
Similar posts have been archived here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the claim to be misleading. The men in the picture are not players of the football club.
We first checked the official Twitter page of Dynamo Kyiv. The latest updates on the club's verified Twitter page at the time of writing this said it started charitable financing of hospitals that helped those wounded in the conflict. However, there was no information on its direct involvement in military action.
A reverse search of the viral image on Bing took us to the verified Facebook account of one Sergey Sternenko. The image shared as that of the footballers was uploaded on the page on February 25, a day after Russia's invasion began.
