According to these publications, many of which come from openly pro-Russian accounts such as “Russosphere – In Defense of Russia”, these donations would arrive “just in time” in the face of the overwhelming number of deaths that the Ukrainian army would face.
“The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2024 have already exceeded the total losses of kyiv over the previous two years of the special operation, the Russian Defense Ministry reports,” affirms the publication of Russosphere, “In total, the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces since the start of the special military operation have exceeded 900,000 servicemen killed and wounded”.
The same image with the same descriptions of the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat was circulated in English, Spanish and Bulgarian, as well as in Russian (here, here, here and here).
However, this photo does not show mobile morgues for slain Ukrainian soldiers, as these publications claim.
Mobile Coca-Cola containers, but for heating
Using different reverse image search techniques on Google and Yandex, as well as keywords in Ukrainian (“mobile Coca-Cola boiler houses”), we found the original photo, which was published by the Ukrainian Red Cross on October 30 on Facebook. Coca-Cola also posted it the same day on Facebook, as well as on November 4 on its Instagram account. According to the two organizations, these are in fact mobile heating units supplied by Coca-Cola and transported by the Red Cross.
“With @lacroixrougeukraine, we continue to support the Ukrainian people. This season we will add 60 new portable boiler rooms to the 45 we provided last year. They will provide consistent heat exactly where it is needed most“, indicated Coca-Cola on Instagram.
Several media outlets reported the arrival of these containers. An article from Forbes magazine (link to the article in Ukrainian archived here) clearly explains that these containers have the mission of “providing heat to local communities“. Other Ukrainian media articles (here, here) provide more information on Ukraine's preparations for winter.
The total amount of this operation amounts to more than 5 million euros, indicate Ukrainian media. In 2024, residents of the kyiv region will receive 24 mobile heating units, in addition to the seven already received last year, they say.
A video report from MART television (link to archived article) explains that the containers are mainly needed in the destroyed regions in the east of the country. “One of these mobile boiler rooms was delivered today to a school in the Baryshivska community“, we can read for example on the page of the kyiv military administration (link to the archived article) or on its Telegram account, “This is a 200 kW installation which will fully meet the needs of the establishment.”
AFP requested confirmation of all this information collected on the internet from the Ukrainian Red Cross. “Yes, indeed, the Ukrainian Red Cross, together with our long-time partner Coca-Cola, is currently implementing a project to provide communities with mobile heating units“, says Lesia Oliinyk, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, in an email sent to AFP on November 27. “The photo was taken in kyiv“, she clarified, refusing to give more details on the exact location”for security reasons“.
The regional administration of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, reported on November 13 that a heating unit had been installed at the Pervomaisk hospital. “Its main advantage is its versatility, since it can run on both gas and diesel. This allows flexibility and stability of the heat supply, even in difficult conditions“, explains the administration.
Two mobile boilers were delivered last year to Uman (link to archived article) “to provide heat to residential buildings in the city in the event of emergency shutdowns“.
The inscription “mobile morgue” added to the photo
In the original photo, we notice that the inscriptions on the container doors are in Ukrainian, not English. These inscriptions are more visible and readable on other photos of the containers (here and here) found on the internet. It can be clearly read “mobile boiler room“,
It means “mobile boiler room“, which is very different from “mobile morgue” presented on the image of the publications that we analyze. By comparing the two photos, we realize that the expression “mobile morgue” has been added to the original image.
The replacement of the word “boiler room” par “morgue“, linked to the highlighting of Ukrainian losses, is not insignificant.
In the conflict between them, Ukraine and Russia avoid revealing the extent of their military losses. On the Russian side, media covering the war – notably the BBC and the independent Russian media Mediazona – estimate that around 70,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. The New York Times cites 120,000 deaths instead.
On the other hand, President Volodmyr Zelensky said in February that around 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died in the war, although analysts and observers believe the real number is much higher (here and here). . The American magazine The Economist estimates instead that between 60,000 to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, figures relayed by Ukrainian media (link to the archived article).
Russian propaganda often emphasizes Ukrainian losses and the mistreatment of the bodies of fallen soldiers, while remaining discreet about Russian losses. Subjects such as the toll of the war in Ukraine, the involvement of foreign forces in the conflict and the recruitment of soldiers abroad are part of the strategy of disseminating false information on the war in Ukraine that the AFP has already treated in the past (1, 2, 3).
