Video shows a military exercise in Sweden, not tanks in Ukraine

CLAIM: Video shows battle tanks stuck in the mud in Ukraine.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The original video shows Swedish army members during an exercise in April 2022 near the Revingehed military training area in the south of Sweden, a spokesperson for the Swedish military confirmed.

THE FACTS: Social media users are misrepresenting a video of the training, suggesting it shows soldiers digging a tank out of a muddy field in Ukraine.

“Leopardo 2 is stuck in Ukrainian mud,” a false post on Twitter that shared the video claimed.

The video shows a 2022 training exercise that ran from April 19 - April 28. As part of the training, Swedish soldiers recover vehicles that get stuck in the terrain, Marcus Nilsson, a spokesperson for the Swedish armed forces South Skane regiment in Revingehed, confirmed to the AP in an email.

The tank, a Stridsvagn 122, was mired in the mud as part of the exercise about 15 miles outside the city of Lund. It was filmed in Silvakra, a village located in Skane County, a geolocation search shows. Google Street View imagery shows the same red house with a red roof surrounded by trees that’s also captured in the video.

Wartofta Tank Company, Skaraborgs Regiment, posted the video on Instagram on April 28, 2022, The caption translated from Swedish said: “Sometimes things don’t go as planned, being heavy isn’t always an advantage. Last week, the company has been down in Skåne and practiced and we gained valuable experiences in assessing terrain and surfaces. If we got a crown for every spade we took, everyone would be able to go on holiday now. But at least we were lucky with the weather! #strv122#svfm#försvarsmakten.”

Germany is providing 18 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, which are expected to be delivered later this month. Sweden and Portugal are also providing tanks, along with Poland, The Associated Press reported last week.

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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.