Old Image Shared as Sikh Community Serving People in Ukraine Amid the Conflict

We could trace the image back to 2016, which makes it clear that it predates the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A photo that shows a food truck serving people is being shared on social media platforms with a claim that it shows the Sikh community in Ukraine feeding people.

This comes in the backdrop of the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict which has led to people fleeing the war-torn country. As per the latest figure, over 5,00,000 people have fled the country so far.

However, we found that the photo has been on the internet since 2016. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, making the photo six years older than the incident it's being shared in association with.

CLAIM

A Twitter user by the name of Atul Kumar Sharma shared the photo from his account, claiming it to be a picture from Ukraine which shows the Sikh community serving people.

The photo has received over 26,000 likes and 4,000 retweets till the time of writing this story. Actress Richa Chadha too retweeted the photo via her official handle, writing, "So much to learn."

The photo has been shared by numerous users on both Instagram and Twitter. The archives for the same can be found here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The food truck visible in the viral photo bears the stamp 'Guru Nanak's Langar Good Bye Hunger.'

We used the same text as a keyword to reverse search the image on the Google. We found that the same photo was shared by the account We The Sikhs, way back on 6 August 2018.

The caption of that photo said that it was from Canada, where everyone was welcome irrespective of their caste, gender, or creed. The photo was also shared via the Facebook page of We The Sikhs on 6 August 2018.

We checked the comments section of this post to gather more information about the photo. We found a comment by the account in the name of Loner, which had shared the photo claiming it be from the United Kingdom (UK).

The caption of the screenshot read: "Indian Sikh distribute free food in the UK everyday." A logo of The Desi Stuff can also be seen in the photo. We took the clue from here and searched the keyword on Facebook.

We found the same photo on The Desi Stuff page, that was shared on 21 November 2016.

The photo was also shared on 16 November 2016 from a Facebook page The Hunger House.

While the post in 2018 claims the photo is from Canada, the 2016 photo makes it out to be from the UK.

We were unable to independently verify the source of the photo, however, it's clear that the photo has been on the internet since the past six years, and is not related the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.

(The story was first published on Quint Hindi on 27 February)

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