In November 2024, Telegram channels and media circulated a photograph allegedly taken in the Sumy region. The photo reportedly shows containers with the words Mobile Morgue and the logo of the American soft drink company. We have verified the accuracy of this story.
For example, Telegram channel “Archangel Special Forces Z” (357,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) posted a viral photo with the following description: “When Ukrainians think about cooperation with Coca-Cola, they immediately think about soda. But the company had other plans for Ukraine and the military conflict in particular. In the photo you see the collaboration of Coca-Cola with the International Red Cross: dozens of mobile morgues were installed in Sumy in the standard red and white colors for cola and the favorite Ukrainian embroidered shirt, so that it would be pleasant to lie there. Why were such things suddenly brought to Sumy? The operation in the Kursk region hit the enemy hard, who lost thousands of people for his desire to promote himself. We could have taken everyone to the morgue, but they were already overcrowded. Besides, it's a bit far. But in such a box you can store bodies, like canned herring, and then discard them, no one will even ask. And this photo was leaked only in Sumy, but there are other areas of the front where there are similar containers.”
According to the TGStat service, at the time of writing this analysis, at least 600 similar posts appeared on Telegram, which in total received about 4 million views. Thus, similar posts were posted by the channels “Dmitry Nicotin"(316,000 views), Colonelcassad (231,000), "Bottle"(166,000), "Ukraina.ru" (twice: 127,000 And 155,000), "Ivan Utenkov"(138,000), "Voenkor Kitten"(134,000), Voblya (130,000), "Media technologist"(84,000), etc. Among the media they wrote about the photo "Russian newspaper", EADaily, News.ru, "Reporter" And "Main regional" Similar publications can be found in “VKontakte"
To begin with, “Verified” tried to track down the original source of the photo that had gone viral. For example, the publication “Ukraina.ru” on its social networks statedthat the photo was sent by his subscribers. However, we found out that the photo appeared on the Internet a few hours earlier. Thus, the very first publication with a viral image (among those we found) was posted on November 15, 2024 at 16:01 Moscow time in the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel “Cat Kostyan"(69,000 views). “Unusual humanitarian aid from the West. Following the mobile boiler rooms, the Coca-Cola company began supplying mobile morgues to Ukraine, because there are not enough conventional ones. Sumy region,” the caption read. The same posts with a difference of several minutes within half an hour were posted by the channels "Odessa public television Z"(10,000 views), Zanoza (9200), "Bear" (7700) and "Shaman Rahu"(5200). “Checked” several times already mentioned these channels in their analyses, since they often turned out to be the primary sources of dissemination of anti-Ukrainian disinformation.
The mobile boiler houses that Coca-Cola transferred to Ukraine were mentioned above. This humanitarian aid became known last fall. For example, the Facebook account of the Voznesensky City Council on November 7, 2023 reportedthat, together with the Ukrainian Red Cross, the company transferred three emergency block-modular boiler houses to the city administration: one with a capacity of 200 kW was sent to the primary health care center, two more were transferred for the needs of a kindergarten and a lyceum (200 kW and 500 kW, respectively). The press release also noted that during September and October 2023, territorial communities of Ukraine received 37 such mobile boiler houses. According to Andrey Bublik, director of corporate relations and sustainable development at Coca-Cola HBC in Ukraine, Armenia and Moldova, the company purchased these installations from a Ukrainian manufacturer.
A year later, on November 4, 2024, the Ukrainian division of Coca-Cola posted on its social networks (Instagram And Facebook) stated that, together with the Ukrainian Red Cross, it will continue to help the population of Ukraine. “This heating season we will add another 60 mobile boiler houses to the 45 that were provided last year... A total of 105 boiler houses with a capacity of about 600 MW will heat up to 600,000 sq. m of premises of medical and educational institutions, as well as residential buildings,” the posts said. November 14 at the Red Cross reported, that one of these installations with a capacity of 200 kW was received by the Veselinovskaya gymnasium in the Kyiv region. It was specified that modular boiler houses will be sent to 30 educational institutions this year.
At the same time, in Coca-Cola publications cited a photograph, a fragment of which is almost completely identical to the image we are interested in. It shows similar containers from the same angle, with the company logo and embroidery on them. However, unlike the viral photo, only “Mobile boiler room” is written on them in Ukrainian.
For a visual comparison, “Verified” superimposed a photo distributed on the RuNet on top of the original photo from Coca-Cola. It turned out that, in addition to the inscriptions on the boiler rooms, the saturation and hue of the colors in the image were changed, and in the lower left part of the picture parts of the branches of the bush were carelessly covered up. In addition, the length of the edited photo has been increased.
Fact checkers from the project "Gvara Media" contacted V press service representative office of Coca Cola in Ukraine with a request to comment on reports about the provision of mobile morgues to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The company called this information fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine also denied news about the supply of mobile morgues.
Thus, the Coca-Cola company did not transfer mobile morgues to the Ukrainian authorities. In fact, pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and media outlets are distributing an edited photo that originally showed mobile boiler houses designed to heat civilian objects.
Cover photo: social networks
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