Russian sources are distributing a photo of a homemade wooden cross and a plaque attached to it. It says: “Here lie the unidentified remains of a defender of Ukraine, No. 214350”. “And how many of these are there throughout the country?”, this is how Russians are commenting on the image of the alleged burial of an unknown Ukrainian soldier who died during the fighting. In addition, they draw attention to the lack of flowers on the grave - this is supposed to indicate a lack of respect on the part of society for Ukrainian soldiers who give their lives in the war.

However, in reality, this photo is fake. This is reported in the StopFake project. Firstly, the parts of the sentence on the sign do not agree with each other - “here rest (instead of “rest”) the unidentified remains of a defender”. Secondly, despite the fact that the word “unidentified” is appropriate in this context, in real burials of unknown soldiers, it is customary to use the phrase “temporarily unidentified” to emphasize that the identification of the soldier and the search for his relatives are ongoing. In particular, this can be seen in the photo of the corresponding burials of 2015 in Dnipro.

Additionally, using the Forensically tool, StopFake journalists found that the propagandists had changed the inscription on the cross in a photo editor. The Error Level Analysis function showed that in the image of the area, the signs without text look significantly darker, while in the unedited photo, flat surfaces and uniform textures should have the same color.

Finally, in cases where it is not possible to immediately identify the deceased soldier, the body is kept in the morgue for a certain period of time, DNA material is collected from it (to continue identifying the soldier and searching for his relatives), and then buried with military honors. When the deceased is identified, his relatives have the right to rebury the body.

The Black Tulip humanitarian mission also takes care of the dignified burial of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. The search group returns home the bodies of soldiers that cannot be immediately removed from the battlefield due to intense fighting or mining. Accordingly, the propaganda message about the careless burial of Ukrainian soldiers does not correspond to reality.

Earlier, we analyzed a fake about the alleged theft of personal belongings of a Ukrainian fighter at his funeral.