In July 2024, messages appeared on Telegram channels about an unusual action: Ukrainian women allegedly began burying their husbands who died at the front along with a phone number to which they could send a message about victory in the war. We figured out how reliable such publications are.
On July 9, 2024, a video circulated on the Internet, which told how widows of Ukrainian soldiers began to put phones with power banks in the coffins of their husbands, so that they could then write a message to their spouse about the victory over Russia. It was alleged that the flash mob was launched by model Tamara Kravchenko, who buried her husband killed in the war in June 2024. The unusual action was reported, in particular, by Telegram channels “Battalion"(260,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "KB"(243,000), Colonelcassad (233,000), "The world of Mikhail Onufrienko" (223,000) and "Uncle Slava"(189,000).
The 55-second video, which was distributed by bloggers and social network users, is accompanied by the logo of the media outlet (or channel) that allegedly filmed the story about the flash mob.
“Verified” used a Google reverse search on the image, but did not find a media outlet that uses such a logo. All links with a similar image lead to the same video about the flash mob. It was also not possible to find publications by authoritative Ukrainian publications about this action.
The video mentions an Instagram model named Tamara Kravchenko, who allegedly launched the flash mob. “Verified” could not find such a model; its only mention was the same posts from various Telegram channels and pro-Russian sites about the action of Ukrainian widows with phones. The video itself shows a photograph of a certain woman - she is introduced as Tamara Kravchenko.
It was not possible to find the original source of the photograph and establish the identity of the woman depicted in it. However, fact checkers from the Gvara Media project on interior details found outthat the photograph was taken not in Ukraine, but in Russia. One of the rooms in the entertainment complex is decorated in exactly the same way.Casino Sochi", located in the Krasnodar region, near the resorts of Krasnaya Polyana.
The earliest publication of this video that “Verified” found was a post in the Telegram channel Vadym Sava (6000 views), posted on July 9 at 15:08 Moscow time.
Thus, no traces of such a flash mob in Ukraine, as well as the story of model Tamara Kravchenko, who allegedly buried her husband, could be found. The photograph of the woman, whom bloggers call the organizer of the action, was taken in Russia, and messages about the flash mob were disseminated through pro-Kremlin Telegram channels.
Photos in the regionOzhke: Kyiv City Administration / Wikimedia Commons
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