The Shiin Evropisken Facebook page, whose pieces of disinformation have been verified by FactCheck multiple times in the past, has promoted another piece of disinformation. The publication reads as follows:  “New proposal of Ukrainian environmentalists is to bury soldiers in biodegradable bags so that potatoes grow above.”

The publication includes some Ukrainian-language footage which ostensibly is a broadcast from Ukrainian media. This impression is further corroborated by the fact that the upper right hand corner of the video features the logo of the Ukrainian 1+1 TV channel.

As a result of the verification of the information, it was found out that the TV channel has in fact not aired such a broadcast. It is not found on the website or the YouTube channel of the 1+1 TV channel. There is also no information in social media, particularly on Facebook, that says anything about burying soldiers in biodegradable bags.

Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation responded to this report and denied the information. The publication, which was published on the Telegram channel, says that the broadcast was not published by the 1+1 TV channel and Ukrainian environmentalists have not voiced such an initiative. Although the broadcast is in Ukrainian language, the Centre for Countering Disinformation notes that it includes numerous grammatical errors and Russian calque.

Therefore, the claim that burying soldiers in biodegradable bags was proposed in Ukraine is fake.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This article was produced as part of Facebook’s Fact-checking Programme. Given the rating, Facebook may impose different restrictions – click here for full information. For information on issuing a correction or to dispute a rating, please see here.