Fact check: Picture of Russian flag being hoisted on Kharkiv govt. building is actually from 2014

An image purportedly showing the Russian flag being hoisted in Ukraine’s Kharkiv is doing the rounds on social media

Claim: In the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an image purportedly showing the Russian flag being hoisted on a government building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv is doing the rounds on social media. The post can be found here.

The picture was posted on twitter by @hamza_jamshed05, accompanied by a claim that it showed the “Russian flag raised on the council of Kharkiv, Ukraine”.

The investigation: Using reverse image tools, we traced the picture to the website of the Russian daily Kommersant. It was part of a photo gallery on the topic “Rallies of pro-Russian activists in Kharkiv and Donetsk”.

Interestingly, it was dated March 2, 2014. Since Reuters was given credit for the photograph, we searched its database and found that the picture was taken on March 1, 2014 when pro-Russian activists clashed with supporters of the new pro-West government and tried to storm the government building.

Further, using a keyword search, we found a report on the incident on the NBC News web portal.

In February 2014, President Viktor Yanukovych was deposed after months of protests. But the move sparked counter-protests by pro-Russian sections of the population, who viewed the new government as illegitimate. The image in the viral social media post dates back to the unrest that followed the ouster of the country’s President in 2014.

The claim is false. The picture was taken in March 2014 and not during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.