Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We’ll be closing this live page shortly, but BBC Verify teams in London and Washington DC will be here through the rest of the day, ready to provide verification and fact-checking to news team across the BBC.

Here’s a quick recap of what we’ve covered today on BBC Verify Live.

We began by verifying footage of a fire at an oil refinery in Russia after a Ukrainian attack and later spoke to an expert about how Moscow is evading sanctions to import the technology needed to repair their energy infrastructure.

We’ve also tracked new data on a fall in the number of new homes being built in England, debunked false claims by the AI chatbot Grok and analysed footage of an Israeli-backed militia on parade in southern Gaza.

Plus, you can click here to read an undercover investigation revealing that Russia is offering young Ukrainians thousands of dollars online to stage attacks against their own country.

BBC Verify will be back tomorrow with more.

US President Donald Trump has signed a bill ordering the release of government files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who died in 2019.

But he hasn’t always supported calls to publish them.

Since his election campaign and return to the White House Trump has changed his stance several times on the issue.

BBC Verify's Jake Horton has looked at how his position has shifted over time.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We’ve been looking into a second fire this week at an oil refinery in Russia, which was caused by the latest drone strike in Ukraine's ongoing campaign targeting energy infrastructure.

Fixing damage to these facilities is challenging for Russia. This is because, according to Petras Katinas from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, international sanctions have restricted access to the technology needed to repair and upgrade Russia’s oil industry.

To assess whether those efforts have proven effective, I sent three questions to sanctions expert, Tom Keatinge, who is the founding director of the Centre for Finance and Security at the Royal United Service Institute think tank:

What impact are sanctions having on Russia's ability to repair oil refineries?

“There's no doubt the controls on Russian access to technology is impacting its oil industry, but the impact of those restrictions has been frustratingly slow, hence the concerted effort by Ukraine to permanently disable Russia's oil infrastructure. The combination of aerial attacks from Ukraine and limited access to critical spare parts will present Russia with challenges.”

What alternative routes can Russia use to evade sanctions?

“The spoiler in all of this is the extent to which China can fill the gap left by Western sanctions. Russia has established supply chains with China and built new payment channels, including via cryptocurrencies.“

Why have issues with sanctions been hard to fix?

"The ability of sanctions to strangle Russia's access to technology has been oversold by many political leaders. The reality is that the sanctions created friction, but with the support of China, Russia has been able to maintain its access to the components it needs for 'business as usual' maintenance.”

Benedict Garman and Richard Irvine-Brown
BBC Verify

Image source, X

A militia active in the Israeli-controlled area of Rafah, southern Gaza, has posted a video promising to “sweep” through the city and rid the Strip of “terror”.

The video, posted two days ago, shows some 70 people in mismatched combat gear holding a variety of rifles being addressed by three men. Smoke can be seen in the background as well as the sound of gunfire.

Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of the militia, is one of the few men seen in the video who has not covered his face. His deputy, Ghassan Duhine, gives the speech. The video is filmed on an open space next to the militia’s headquarters to the east of Rafah.

While the video was published on 18 November, we can tell it was filmed some time between 11 and 16 November - based on changes seen in satellite imagery to the coverings over the greenhouses visible in the background.

In the video the militia declares it will go house-to-house and street-by-street “until we clear all of Rafah”.

The IDF has been in control of the entire Rafah region since April and the vast majority of the buildings there have been razed already.

Israel has confirmed it is arming groups in Gaza opposed to Hamas, such as this one.

Armed militia have been seen in cities across Gaza, as well as riding with aid convoys in the Strip which some critics have accused them of looting. There have also been reports of gun battles between militia and Hamas in both Rafah and Gaza City.

False claims that US President Donald Trump’s “Quiet, piggy” reply to a reporter’s question was misheard and actually directed at a journalist called Peggy are being spread by the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.

Trump has faced criticism for this comment, made in response to a question about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein asked by Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey.

Post circulating on social media claim that Trump was saying “Quiet, Peggy” to Bloomberg’s Washington DC bureau chief, Peggy Collins.

These posts have gathered tens of thousands of views and are being amplified by Grok, which is operated by social media platform X.

BBC Verify contacted Bloomberg, which confirmed that Collins was not present when exchange took place and is not a member of the White House press pool.

A close-up photograph of the moment also shows Trump’s finger just a few inches from Lucey’s face.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked the White House to comment about his remarks and a spokesperson told us: "This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane. If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take."

X responded to our questions about Grok’s posts with: “Legacy Media Lies.”

Yi Ma
BBC Verify researcher

Videos circulating on social media show extensive flooding in central Vietnam following a prolonged period of heavy rain.

State media reported yesterday that one person had died and more than 7,700 households had been evacuated in Dak Lak province.

One verified clip shows lines of vehicles around a supermarket partially submerged in floodwater in the city of Nha Trang, a popular coastal tourist destination.

Image source, X

I confirmed the location by matching the layout of the surrounding buildings with satellite imagery on Google Earth. A reverse-image search of video screenshots indicates it was not uploaded online before yesterday.

The Vietnamese environment ministry said today that at least 41 people had been killed and nine more were missing, according to the AFP news agency.

Ed Main
BBC Trending senior journalist

The BBC has gone undercover online to investigate how Ukrainians are being offered thousands of dollars to stage arson attacks and bombings against their own country.

The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of using Telegram - and in some cases TikTok or even video game platforms - to recruit teenagers and children as young as 11 to carry out sabotage.

With help from BBC Ukrainian we used a burner phone and an alias to join several Telegram channels we had been tipped off about.

These channels are not explicitly pro-Russian, but play on anger felt by some Ukrainians towards the conscription service, which has been dogged by allegations of brutality and corruption.

One we contacted immediately offered payment, either in cryptocurrency or via bank transfer, to carry out arson. We were told to contact a second account for more details and then received a message with a price list detailing how much they paid for different targets. This ranged from $1,500 (£1,150) for setting fire to a post office to $3,000 (£2,300) for a bank.

One 18-year-old, who is in detention awaiting trial on terrorism charges, told the BBC he was promised $2,000 to plant a bomb in a van used by the conscription service, but the attack was foiled.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify that the Russian state itself is responsible. The Russian Embassy in London did not directly comment on Ukraine’s allegations but issued a statement accusing Ukraine of a similar sabotage campaign using Russian citizens.

The BBC reported a number of channels, accounts, chats and bots to Telegram, which removed a few but not most of them. In a statement, Telegram said: "Calls to violence or destruction of property are explicitly forbidden on Telegram and are immediately removed whenever discovered."

• You can read the full story from BBC Trending and BBC News Ukrainian here

Adam Durbin
BBC Verify Live senior journalist

We’ve been reporting on a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery in Russia. In the past two hours the Ukrainian military confirmed it attacked the site with drones.

In an update on Telegram, the Ukrainian General Staff says it carried out “repeated” strikes on the facility, recording one hit. The statement adds an assessment of the damage to the refinery is being carried out.

Last night the governor of Ryazan region said drones had been shot down by air defences. He added that debris from one drone caused a fire at “a business”.

Daniel Wainwright
BBC Verify senior data journalist

The number of new homes in England fell for the third year in a row in the 12 months ending March 2025, official figures confirm.

The government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes during the current parliament, a figure that would require about 300,000 more properties coming on the market every year.

But the latest data shows there were 208,600 additional homes, once any conversions or demolitions were taken into account. This is down by 6% on the previous year.

The official statistics confirm our previous reporting that the number of new homes being built fell during Labour’s first year in office.

In our housing tracker, we use data that gets published more frequently, energy performance certificates (EPCs), which every new home is required to have upon completion.

The government uses them as one of its key indicators for measuring progress while waiting for an annual net additional dwellings release that takes eight months to produce and publish. And today, it used them to estimate that about 275,600 new homes have been delivered in England since the election last year.

Responding to these latest figures, Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the government was committed to “getting spades in the ground wherever homes are needed most”.

You can see how many new homes were recorded in your area in our tracker.

Image source, bbc

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Telegram

As we reported earlier, verified video shows a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery in Russia following reports of a Ukrainian drone strike. The facility has been repeatedly targeted by Ukraine as part of an ongoing campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.

The refinery is operated by the state-run oil company Rosneft and contributes to supplying power for the Moscow region. Repeated drone strikes since January have resulted in frequent suspensions of activity, according to Reuters reporting.

If confirmed, this will be the eighth reported strike on the refinery this year and the second this week.

Here’s a timeline of what we know:

23-24 January: Ukraine says it targeted the refinery as part of a drone strikes across multiple regions. Verified footage shows fire burning and smoke billowing into the air.

25-26 January: The Ukrainian military says it has been hit by drones again. Some operations are suspended, according to Reuters.

23 February: Reuters reports all operations have been suspended following a strike. Nasa satellites detect fires on the southern edge of the site.

23 March: Verified footage shows smoke rising from the refinery, followed by an explosion. The sounds of gunfire and the buzz of a drone in the background suggest air defences are operating before the blast.

21 May: Nasa detects fires at the refinery following reports of drone strikes.

5 September: The commander of Ukraine's drone forces says the refinery has been hit again. Multiple fires are detected by Nasa satellites.

15 November: Operations are again suspended following a drone strike, Reuters reports.

Marco Silva
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, PA Media

Snowfall in parts of the UK in the last two days has led some social media users to falsely claim that cold weather disproves climate change.

In posts seen thousands of times, some users asked “what happened to all that global warming?” with others ironically suggesting it is “hitting England hard”.

But these comments confuse weather with climate. While weather refers to short-term changes in the atmosphere, climate describes long-term weather patterns over extended periods.

“Despite the warming climate, extreme cold events still occur in the UK due to natural variability,” says Dr Mark McCarthy, head of climate attribution at the Met Office.

“Future UK winter climate will still be variable year to year, so severely cold winters are still likely to occur – just less often.”

The World Meteorological Organization says that, since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one - a trend that is expected to continue.

It also says that 2025 is likely to be the second or third warmest year on record, with average temperatures between January and August 1.42C above levels of the late 1800s.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says this is “unequivocally” being caused by human activity — mainly through the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.

Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Instagram

We’ve verified two videos that show a huge fire that broke out at an oil refinery in north-eastern Venezuela yesterday.

According to local reports, the fire was caused by an explosion inside the Petrocedeno oil refinery plant near the shores of the Caribbean Sea, which processes heavy crude oil near the country’s oil-rich Orinoco Belt.

One video, filmed from a car by a road near the plant, shows fire burning with a thick plume of black smoke rising into the air.

Another clip, filmed from a road near the plant, shows a worker looking at the same fire and smoke from distance.

Nasa’s satellite-based FIRMS map, which detects heat sources on Earth's surface, also detects multiple areas of heat inside the plant within the last 24 hours.

Image source, NASA

Sherie Ryder and Fridon Kiria
BBC Verify and BBC Monitoring

Image source, X

Verified footage of a fire at an oil refinery in the city of Ryazan in Russia, about 180km (110 miles) south-east of Moscow, has been shared on social media overnight.

The facility on fire is one of the largest refineries in Russia and has been hit by Ukranian drone strikes several times already this year, most recently on 15 November. There is no direct evidence of the cause of the blaze.

The governor of Ryazan region, Pavel Malkov, said on Telegram there was a fire at a business in Ryazan after debris from a downed drone set fire to it. He added there were no reported casualties.

We’ve verified one clip filmed from roughly 6km away from the refinery by identifying buildings in the foreground and matching them to satellite images of the area. In the distance we can see an orange glow of fire from the direction of the oil refinery.

Ukraine has not said if it carried out an attack on the refinery. Russia’s Defence Ministry has posted on Telegram that air defences intercepted and destroyed 65 Ukrainian drones over several regions, including 16 downed in Ryazan.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

We’re looking into reports an oil refinery is on fire in Ryazan, a city around 110 miles (180km) south-east of Russia’s capital Moscow. It’s the same plant that was struck by Ukraine last weekend forcing it to suspend operations. The governor of Ryazan region has reported drones being shot down overnight, saying debris from one caused a fire to break out at a business.

Images showing a blaze at a petrochemical facility in Venezuela on Wednesday are being shared online which we are verifying. According to Reuters, an explosion was heard before the fire. It’s being reported that no-one was injured and it is not clear yet what caused the incident.

And we’ve been investigating why the AI chatbot Grok has been telling users of the social media platform X that US President Donald Trump did not say “quiet piggy” to a reporter. Grok has been falsely saying Trump said “quiet, Peggy” - but there are reasons why that’s not true.

We’ll have more from the BBC’s team of fact-checkers, verification specialists and data journalists throughout the day.