Fact Check: Did Russia Send XVI Century 'Tsar Cannon' to Ukraine Front?

Russia's attempts to shore up its military resources within Ukraine have cut an image of an increasingly shaken Moscow, agitatedly reacting to growing counteroffensives against its troops.

As Ukraine retook territory in all four regions that Putin claimed to have annexed only days ago, Moscow continued to deploy swathes of equipment and vehicles, some of which has previously been said to be dated or malfunctioning.

With reports of sapping morale among its soldiers and resistance from some of its new conscripts, Russia's military prowess arguably seems more withering, reactionary and desperate than at any point so far in the conflict.

In what looked like yet another example of ill-prepared strategy, a photo shared on social media even showed Moscow deploying equipment made hundreds of years ago.

The Claim

A tweet, posted on October 3, 2022, showed a photo of what appeared to be an antiquated cannon being brought into Ukraine. The tweet received more than 28,000 engagements.

Several other accounts reshared the post or posted the same image, which was seen by tens of thousands of social media users.

The Facts

Ukraine has made a number of staggering (if not yet verified) claims about Russian equipment it has destroyed recently.

Since the war began on February 24, 2022, Kyiv says that Russia has now lost 2,377 tanks, 4,975 armored combat vehicles, 1,405 artillery units, and 1,015 drones.

However, while Russia may be losing some ground in its neighbouring country, bringing ancient military hardware into the theater of war is (at least for now) a stretch too far.

The weapon in the photo is of Russian descent; known as the Tsar Cannon, it is considered to be the biggest cannon in the world. It was cast in 1586 and made during the Tsarist reign of Fyodor Ivanovich, son of Ivan the Terrible.

While there is some speculation about whether it has ever been used at all (or instead made for purely ceremonial reasons), some reports suggest that inspectors have found traces of gunpowder inside its barrel.

It is now ceremonially housed outside the Kremlin and what appears to be the original photo of the cannon used in the tweet can be found on Wikipedia.

The photo the Tsar Cannon was digitally edited into on Twitter is of a real Russian rail convoy taking military equipment to the Ukraine frontlines, shared widely in the press and on social media.

The image is a still from a video that was circulating in April 2021 amid growing reports of mass deployment of Russian military vehicles and equipment to the Ukrainian border.

The video, which can be viewed here starting at the 1:16 minute mark, was used to make a screengrab, which has been shared at the time and was likely the foundation for the edited picture.

While it appears that some attempts were made to make the image on Twitter appear authentic (like as color grading and resolution matching), there are still clear signs it was edited.

A closer look at the right side of the image, between the cannon and the cart, reveals there is an unnatural right angle cutaway along the trees in the back of the shot. Also, the space underneath the flatbed the cannon sits on is blurred out and flat, as if image artefacts around it have been poorly shaded in.

Newsweek could not immediately verify the author of the doctored image, and whether it was done for satirical or other purposes.

Russia has been far more open over the past week about the extent of its troubles in the conflict.

During a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was yet to finalize the borders of the illegally annexed Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

"We will continue to consult with the people who live in those regions," Peskov said, adding that he could not go into detail about what format the consultation would take.

"I've said all I can say on that," he responded when asked for clarification.

The Ruling

Misleading Material.

The picture shared on social media is a photoshopped image of a XVI century cannon, added into a photo of a Russian military hardware convoy. The cannon, known as the Tsar Cannon, was cast in 1586 and now sits outside the Kremlin.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team