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A video which shows a huge banner on a building that reads "No Zelensky, No War" is going viral on the internet as a recent visual from Fifth Avenue in United States' New York.
Those sharing the video claimed that there was a protest against Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, where he met US President Joe Biden.
The video had garnered more than 4,00,000 views at the time of writing this report.
(Archives of more similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)
What is the truth?: The video has been altered to add the banner against Zelenskyy. The original video has been on the internet since July 2021, months before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
How did we find that out?: We performed a keyword search on Google and came across a longer version of the video uploaded on YouTube on a verified channel called 'CoolVision'.
The video was uploaded on 15 July 2021 and was titled, "Walking in New York City 4K. 5th Avenue. People, Cars and Street Sounds."
At around the 1:06 timestamp of the video, one can see the viral clip playing.
It can be seen that the YouTube video shows a picture of a woman on the banner.
(Swipe right to view all the comparisons.)
A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.
It is clear that the original video showed a picture of a woman in the banner.
Geolocating the place: We noticed the shop sign that said "Tiffany & Co" and performed a search on Google Maps, keeping "Fifth Avenue" as reference.
Using the street view option, we found several dates from the location.
As the YouTube video was uploaded in 2021, we looked for the street view option available from August 2021.
It should be noted that the building is under construction which could also be seen in the viral video.
On comparison, we found both the pictures show the building under construction.
(Source: Google Maps/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Tiffany & Co was under renovation for over three years and was recently reopened in April. It was reported to be the first comprehensive renovation of the store since it first opened in 1940. You can read more here.
According to CBS New York, underground electrical fire broke out at the store on 29 June.
In the video uploaded by the news organisation, one can see the the store in its complete stage and no scaffolding or banners can be seen hanging from the building.
The video was uploaded on 29 June.
(Source: CBS News/YouTube)
Conclusion: An old, edited video is being shared to claim that there were protests against the Ukraine President in New York.
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