Is it true that this photo shows a boy saving a puppy after the disaster at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station?

A touching photo is being circulated on social media showing a boy walking neck-deep in water and holding a puppy above his head. It is reported that the photo was taken after the dam broke at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric station. We decided to check the veracity of this image.

Snapshot especially active diverges V Facebook* - dozens of users have already posted it on their pages, one of the most popular publications at the time of writing this analysis there were 289 reposts. Also a photo published UNIAN agency in its Telegram channel, where she received 320,000 views. Users also share the photo Twitter.

On June 6, at about two o'clock in the morning, the upper part of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station dam collapsed. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky accused Russia “in undermining the structures of hydroelectric power stations from the inside.” The Kremlin, in turn, explains destruction of the dam by sabotage associated with the “unsuccessful counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” In the area of ​​flooding, according to data The BBC Russian Service found that there were at least 30 settlements on both banks of the Dnieper. By words Vladimir Leontiev, appointed mayor by Russia, the national park in Novaya Kakhovka was flooded, thousands of animals died. Also in Novaya Kakhovka, the Fairytale Oak Forest Zoo was seriously damaged, with some of the animals succeeded save. In social networks And Media appeared many photo and video evidencelike people rescue their pets.

If you do a reverse search on the image of a boy with a puppy, it turns out that the photo was taken long before the Dnieper dam broke. According to the service TinEye, the first publication of this image dates back to April 1, 2013, when he appeared on the website jokesland.net.ru in the form of a demotivator with the caption “Without words... Perish yourself, but help your comrade.”

Subsequently, photography is regularly appeared on various entertaining websites and social networks both as a demotivator and simply as touching illustration. 

In 2014, this image was used in publications about flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Local blogger wrote: “The big heart of a little boy who couldn’t lie showed us all what we should be, how we should help those who need help, how we should understand those who are different in some way, be it wealth, color or religion.”

Thus, the picture appeared on the Internet ten years before the disaster at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station and has nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reliably determine where and under what circumstances the photograph was taken.

Cover image: Vijesti s jezera Modrac

*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Not true

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