On June 1, 2025, users across multiple platforms began sharing footage of what appeared to be drones bombing planes on the ground. Amid factual news that Ukrainian drones hit Russian targets amid the ongoing war in June 2025, a video that many claimed depicted such strikes made its rounds on the internet.
For example, one X post (archived) received more than 289,600 views, as of this writing, and many commenters appeared to believe the footage was authentic. A TikTok (archived) of the footage received upwards of 14.5 million views, as of this writing.
The caption read: "40 RUSSIAN STRATEGIC Bombers TU-95 Destroyed in Daring Ukrainian FPV-Drone Swarm Raid."
Dozens of commenters appeared to celebrate the "win" against Russia, but the footage was miscaptioned. While Ukrainian drones did actually hit Russian targets in June 2025, this particular footage was derived from a video game called "Arma 3," a war simulation exercise. We reached out to Bohemia Interactive, the Czech creator of the game, and will update this story if we receive confirmation from the company.
The clip appeared to originate in a YouTube video from June 1, 2025. The angle as seen in the circulated videos begins at approximately minute 11:00.
The description of the original YouTube video included the disclaimer:
Arma 3 Footage! Not real news!
Please, like and Subscribe if you like my Videos!
These videos are made for entertainment and educational purposes in the military simulator ARMA 3. Under no circumstances do we wish to promote war and cruelty. All videos are created for users aged 18 and over.
The bio of the YouTube account, @Arma3UWC, also states: "Please consider all videos on the channel as fiction and do not use them as propaganda of military operations."
Bohemia Interactive is aware that the footage from Arma 3 sometimes appears on the internet under the guise of real war footage. In 2022, the company released guidance (archived) on distinguishing between real footage and video game footage, highlighting shaky footage, unnatural visual effects, no characters, no sound and low resolution as markers of video game footage.
In a published statement on the company's website, Pavel Křižka, PR manager of Bohemia Interactive, wrote:
While it's flattering that Arma 3 simulates modern war conflicts in such a realistic way, we are certainly not pleased that it can be mistaken for real-life combat footage and used as war propaganda. It has happened in the past (Arma 3 videos allegedly depicted conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, and even between India and Pakistan), but nowadays this content has gained traction in regard to the current conflict in Ukraine. We've been trying to fight against such content by flagging these videos to platform providers (FB, YT, TW, IG etc.), but it's very ineffective. With every video taken down, ten more are uploaded each day. We found the best way to tackle this is to actively cooperate with leading media outlets and fact-checkers (such as AFP, Reuters, and others), who have better reach and the capacity to fight the spreading of fake news footage effectively.
The company also published a YouTube video further emphasizing how social media accounts often use Arma 3 to spread fake news or war propaganda:
The 2022 guidance stated that unnatural particle effects also are an indication that the footage originated in the game, with or without shaky or blurred footage.
At minute 15:39 in the original YouTube video, a zoomed-in view of the explosions in the upper left corner show the unrealistic effect.
(YouTube account @Arma3UWC)
In sum, the footage originated on a YouTube account that exclusively posts footage from the war simulation video game Arma 3. The footage is not real and it does not authentically depict Ukrainian drones striking Russian bomber planes.