Fact check: Video shows graves from 2021, not new graves for Russian soldiers

Kate S. Petersen, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Video shows new graves for Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine

The Russian military has suffered significant fatalities since the invasion of Ukraine. Some social media users have begun circulating a video they claim shows Russian graves prepared for the returning bodies.

The video seems to be shot from a moving vehicle. What appear to be cross-shaped tombstones are shown out one window of the vehicle.

Rows of rectangular holes next to piles of dirt are then shown out the other window.

"Hundreds of graves have been dug in the cemeteries of Russia - they are waiting for the burial of Russian cargo 200, which is starting to come from Ukraine," reads a March 5 Facebook post. "The Russians are filming and posting on social networks, they are in shock."

"Cargo 200" refers to military fatalities, according to AFP.

The video was viewed more than 250,000 times this month, but it has nothing to do with the current Ukrainian-Russian conflict.

The video shows graves that were pre-dug in preparation for the northern Russian winter, when grave digging is hindered by frozen soil. The video predates the February invasion of Ukraine.

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The video was debunked by multiple independent fact-checking organizations.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook users who shared the post for comment.

Video posted on YouTube in 2021

The video was posted to YouTube in late 2021. A Russian-speaking narrator can be heard saying, "Surgut city cemetery. Preparation in progress to a mass grave. Fourth wave ahead," according to a Google translation of the subtitles.

The "fourth wave" presumably referred to a feared uptick in deaths from COVID-19, according to a Google translation of Russian news coverage.

However, the graves were not specifically for COVID-19 victims either. They were dug in a Surgut, Russia, cemetery as part of standard practice to prepare for northern Russian winters, according to multiple Russian news sources.

During the winter, the soil freezes, making it difficult to dig graves at all. Thus, pre-dug graves are prepared each fall, they reported.

Fact check: Video clip shows fictional 2014 movie, not Ukrainian soldiers killing civilians

Andrey Filatov, the mayor of Surgut, confirmed this in a March 7 Instagram post, according to Reuters. However, USA TODAY could not locate the post.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows new graves for Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine. The video dates back to at least 2021 and shows graves dug to prepare for frozen soil conditions in the winter, according to multiple Russian news outlets.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video shows Russia graves dug to prepare for winter freeze