Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We’ve brought to you this afternoon what we’ve learned from publicly available flight tracking websites about the flight of three US B-52 bombers to the coast of Venezuela as tensions rise between the countries. The former head of the Irish military told us it’s a form of “gunboat diplomacy”. Scroll down now to read more expert analysis of why the US carried out the flight.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is due at the White House this evening where he’s expected to ask President Donald Trump to sell US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. There’s full coverage on the BBC’s main live page.

Ahead of their meeting here on BBC Verify Live we looked into:

• How Tomahawks give Ukraine potential to strike deeper into Russia
• Russian disinformation operation casts doubt on Tomahawks for Ukraine
• A reader’s question about what’s happening on Ukraine’s front line

That’s all from BBC Verify Live for this week.

If you see any dubious claims or unverified videos on your social media feed this weekend do let us know and we’ll try to investigate.

BBC Verify’s journalists will be working across the weekend and we’ll be back with the live page on Monday.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump, we've been analysing what has been happening away from the negotiating table - along the front line in Ukraine.

BBC Verify's Olga Robinson explains.

Phil Leake
BBC Verify data journalist

The amount of aid getting into the Gaza Strip has increased since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire came into effect, figures from the United Nations show.

Some 5,000 tonnes of aid was collected from two Israeli-controlled crossings since last Friday which is 23% more than in the six days before the ceasefire.

On 9 October - the day the ceasefire was signed - 1,077 tonnes of aid was collected.

But the average amount collected each day since 10 October - including food, hygiene, shelter and health items - remains in line with the September average.

The amount of aid being “intercepted” once it is in Gaza has also decreased, the UN says. Before the ceasefire 80% of aid was intercepted compared with 20% in the first six days of the truce.

The UN’s data does not cover all the aid entering Gaza - full totals are published by Cogat, the Israeli government agency responsible for co-ordinating humanitarian efforts in the Strip. Its data has not been updated since 10 October.

Meanwhile, another aid provider, the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has confirmed it suspended operations last Friday.

Shayan Sardarizadeh and Olga Robinson
BBC Verify

Fake videos purporting to be from major news outlets and research bodies are casting doubt on the possible transfer of US-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House today.

These fabricated videos - most of which never go viral - are part of a major Russian disinformation operation that BBC Verify has previously reported on.

The operation works by posting fake videos across multiple social media platforms that appear as though they had been published by major news organisations, government agencies or reputable research institutions.

The messages in the fake videos line up with Russian foreign policy talking points and often spread disinformation about Ukraine.

BBC Verify has been reviewing a batch of new videos posted on platforms like X and Bluesky this week which are trying to suggest that the possible supply of Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine is an undesirable move that would either escalate the conflict or not help Kyiv at all.

One video, made to appear like analysis from the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), suggests that the Trump administration will blame Ukraine for escalating the conflict if it hits Russian targets with the missiles.

The ISW told BBC Verify that the “fabricated” clip is the work of a Russian disinformation network that “deceptively uses the ISW brand and likeness to promote fake assessments and other false claims”.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we reported that tracking data showed US Air Force Boeing B-52 bomber aircraft left their base in Louisiana on Wednesday and flew across the Caribbean before circling off the Venezuelan coast.

Nick Brown, director of Jane’s Defence Insight, says it’s “not usual” for planes like these to operate in the area.

The US Air Force “routinely conducts long-range, long-endurance training missions and patrols to keep the crew and aircraft fully mission capable,” Brown says.

He adds the flights were “clearly designed to send a message to [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro as part of the wider ramp-up of US forces in the area”.

“For one thing, they left their transponders switched on for much of the flight, advertising their presence and location on aircraft tracking sites. That is clearly following good aviation practice, but they also wanted to be seen,” Brown says.

Brown says B-52s can carry “an enormous array of weapons from precision-guided glide bombs to cruise missiles and nuclear weapons” but since many of them are carried internally we can’t say if the aircraft were armed at the time.

Tensions between the US and Venezuela escalated further on Wednesday when US President Donald Trump indicated he was considering “land strikes” in Venezuela.

A US Global Strike Command spokesperson confirmed to the BBC’s US news partner CBS that the three aircraft had flown missions near Venezuela but did not confirm the nature of the mission.

Olga Robinson and Adam Durbin
BBC Verify

Scott in Edinburgh recently got in touch to ask for an update on the battlefield in Ukraine, so we spoke to an expert who’s been tracking the front line.

Daniel Mealie, a geospatial intelligence analyst from the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, told BBC Verify that recently Russia has only been “advancing at footpace on good days”.

According to the think tank’s analysis, this amounts to around 13.5 sq km (five sq miles) of ground gained per day since July - a total of just over 1,400 sq km (540 sq miles).

The front line has become largely static because Russian troops have adapted their tactics to the realities of drone warfare, Mealie said.

He explained they now operate on foot to carry out assaults or infiltrations behind Ukrainian lines, as armoured vehicles and tanks are often hit by drones when they get to within around 25km (16 miles) of the front line.

“Russian commanders have pivoted towards deploying multiple waves of small infantry units of three to five soldiers to bypass Ukrainian strong points and evade drone detection,” Mealie said. These units take advantage of “forested areas or ravines as concealment” to make slow-paced advances.

Battalion-sized attacks of a few hundred Russian soldiers are only carried out every few months. But there has been a recent effort to take advantage of autumn weather like wind and rain - which make flying drones harder - to carry out larger armoured assaults, he added.

The map below shows the movement of the front line between July and October of this year in Ukraine's Donetsk region - one of the key areas of the front line that has seen a lot of fighting.

Matt Murphy
BBC Verify senior journalist

Three US bomber aircraft approached and circled an area near the Venezuelan coast on Wednesday, as tensions between the countries continue to rise.

The Boeing B-52s left Barksdale Air Force Base at Shreveport in the state of Louisiana, flight tracking data reviewed by BBC Verify shows. A US Global Strike Command spokesperson confirmed to the BBC’s US news partner CBS that the three aircraft have flown missions near Venezuela.

The strategic bombers turned off their transponders shortly after leaving the US.

Flying under the callsigns BUNNY01, BUNNY02 and BUNNY03, they reappeared on flight trackers transiting over the Caribbean, before banking towards Venezuela. At this point BUNNY03 again turned off its transponder.

After circling an area off Venezuela’s coastline for around an hour the other aircraft turned off their transponders again as they turned back towards the US.

The “most probable" purpose of the flights was a “show of force, the equivalent to more traditional gunboat diplomacy", said Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, who is a former head of the Irish defence force.

The activation of the plane's transponder near the coast appeared "choreographed" to send a message, he told BBC Verify.

Mellett noted the B-52s also have significant intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities, and can be used to monitor a variety of ground targets. While drones could achieve the same purpose, he said they would not boast the same "show of force" achieved by the B-52.

Richard Irvine-Brown and Kumar Malhotra
BBC Verify

Image source, Instagram

We’ve been analysing multiple Israeli missile strikes yesterday and into the night across Lebanon.

A photo - the earliest copies we have seen were posted online by Lebanese and Turkish news organisations around 16:00 local time (14:00 BST) - shows a large plume of smoke over the small town of Bnaafoul in southern Lebanon. We can match the location to local landmarks including an apartment building.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in Beqaa Governorate and southern Lebanon, adding Hezbollah activity violated agreements between Lebanon and Israel.

The IDF later said it had carried out strikes in the Mazraat Sinai area including at a quarry they claimed was used by Hezbollah. Two videos from this morning show a scorched building and damage at the quarry.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted a picture last week showing a woman holding a sign saying “I really appreciate you guys!” outside its facility in Portland.

Claims rapidly began to spread that the picture was made using artificial intelligence, gathering tens of millions of views across multiple platforms.

We wanted to debunk these claims so we asked two AI experts to examine the image, but their results were inconclusive, and ICE didn’t get back to us when we asked if the picture had been edited.

A few days later I was watching a video posted by right-wing influencer Benny Johnson showing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on the roof of the ICE facility in Portland two days before the picture was posted.

In Johnson’s video, the place where the supporter is standing can be seen multiple times. Graffitied on the ground are three words insulting immigration agents - including a Spanish expletive that we have blurred in the screenshot below.

Two letters of the Spanish expletive, an H and an I, line up with the two letters visible behind the supporter, which had been highlighted by those online claiming the image was AI.

“There is strong evidence to suggest that ICE has edited to remove the graffiti because the floor around the woman appears unusually smooth as suggested by noise level analysis,”, Professor Tuğrulcan Elmas, an AI expert at the University of Edinburgh.

I asked Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, directly if the picture had been edited to remove this expletive.

“This woman’s face was blurred to protect her identity and the profanities that were written on the sidewalk are also blurred. Get a grip,” the DHS told us, adding that many similar supporters had shown up to ICE’s Portland facility.

“It might be hard for the media to believe that after all their lies and smears Americans see through it and actually support ICE—but they do,” they said.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

As we mentioned earlier, we're investigating reports of a drone strike on an oil depot in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russian-language social media channels say the depot is located in Hvardiiske in the Simferopol region. At present all the footage we've seen shows a plume of smoke at a distance, so we cannot confirm that the depot itself has been hit.

However, one clip we've verified shows the smoke is certainly coming from the direction of the depot. The dashcam video was filmed from a vehicle facing north and turning right at a large intersection near Ukromnoye, around 9km (5.5 miles) south-west of Hvardiiske.

As the car turns, the plume moves across the screen from right to left which is consistent with the location of the depot.

We'll continue to monitor for more information on this incident.

Olga Robinson and Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify

As we mentioned earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington today where he’s expected to make a case for the US to supply his armed forces with Tomahawk missiles.

These weapons have a range of up to 2,500km (1,550 miles) which would allow Kyiv to strike deeper and with more impact inside Russia. Ukraine could use them to target larger and more important targets, like air bases and military depots which are beyond the range of its current arsenal of missiles and drones.

“This could force the Russians to further disperse their air defence systems, which are already rather overstretched,” says Justin Bronk, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

But he warns this would simply increase the costs of the war for Russia and not fundamentally change the course of the conflict.

The Tomahawks would be “a scalpel, rather than a scythe,” agrees Justin Crump, a former British Army officer and CEO of risk consultancy Sibylline. He says only 20 to 50 could potentially be sent by the US due to stockpile shortages.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, ISU Bucuresti-Ilfov

I’ve just been authenticating footage beginning to circulate on social media showing the aftermath of a large explosion at an apartment block in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

Videos we've seen show significant damage to the fifth and sixth floors of a residential development in the Calea Rahovei neighbourhood near the centre of the city.

There appears to be damage to the windows of buildings across the courtyard, around 60m away from the apparent blast site, which suggests this explosion was significant.

There are "several victims", according to a report from local authorities this morning, but whether these are deaths or injuries is still unclear.

Kevin Nguyen, Phil Leake and Merlyn Thomas
BBC Verify

The controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has confirmed it suspended operations in Gaza after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October.

The GHF has been heavily criticised after hundreds of Palestinians were killed while collecting food near its distribution sites. Witnesses say most were killed by Israeli forces.

Israel has regularly denied that its troops fired on civilians at or near the sites and the GHF has maintained that aid distribution at its sites has been carried out "without incident".

BBC Verify analysis of satellite imagery shows one aid distribution site was dismantled shortly after the 10 October ceasefire came into effect.

A GHF spokesman said the site shut because it was no longer in Israeli-controlled territory.

Emma Pengelly
BBC Verify journalist

We’re scanning social media channels for videos and pictures shared in Ukraine and in Russian-occupied Crimea following reports of overnight strikes.

The city of Kryvyi Rih - where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky grew up - appears to have been targeted hours after Thursday’s phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin where they discussed the war.

Zelensky, who is in Washington ahead of a meeting with Trump, posted on X, external that “a swarm of drones” had hit civilian infrastructure in his hometown. “Nothing has changed for Russia”, he added.

We’re working to verify footage being shared online and will bring you further updates once verified.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

Hello from the team at BBC Verify.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington DC, where he’s expected to ask Donald Trump for access to US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, his home town has come under attack from Russia.

We’re looking to see what footage has been shared but Zelensky has posted that a “swarm” of drones struck Kryvyi Rih which damaged civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine has also reportedly carried out attacks overnight with another oil depot said to have been struck in Russian-occupied Crimea. We’ve verified dashcam footage posted on Telegram showing a smoke plume in the area where the attack is reported to have happened.

Elsewhere, videos shared last night show explosions in southern Lebanon, with the Israel Defense Forces posting on X that it had targeted underground weapons stores belonging to the Hezbollah group.

And - in case you missed it - our US fact-check team was on hand last night for the New York mayoral debate. We’ll bring you a round-up of what they looked into.