An Israeli TV news channel has run ‘live footage’ of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine featuring a crash-landed TIE fighter from Star Wars.
The clip even shows stormtroopers standing beside the Imperial aircraft on a snowy road.
An investigation at Channel 13 has been launched and the editor has been suspended after the video was aired during a montage of destruction in Ukraine.
The clip was originally an advert produced by Disney and Lucasfilm in 2014 to promote a new Star Wars channel on Sky Deutschland.
It shows the stormtroopers surveying the crashed starfighter on a German autobahn while cars zoom past.
The original caption said: ‘Warning: Unsecured crash on the A3. Please turn right and not overtake!’
It is believed the video started circulating on the messaging app Telegram after the Russian invasion, duping people into believing it showed footage from the war.
Ukraine has warned about disinformation being shared online, saying Russia is preparing an online campaign to suggest senior military and political figures have surrendered.