Since the start of the war in Ukraine, some have claimed that "children" are being recruited into the Ukrainian army. Three viral photos, purporting to show graves of very young soldiers, have been shared since mid-August as evidence of this phenomenon. However, two of these three photos have been manipulated, and actually show the burial sites of adult men.
If you only have a minute
- Three photos of graves have been used as evidence of the use of child soldiers by the Ukrainian armed forces.
- We have been able to trace the origin of two of these photos: one is of a 21-year-old man whose face has been digitally replaced by a young boy. The other photo is of a 26-year-old man, whose face, name and date of birth have been digitally altered.
- We were unable to determine the source of the third photo.
The fact-check, in detail
"The UA are already sending children to slaughter. The third was not even 17..." said this post from July 17 on X (formerly Twitter), seen more than 130,000 times. The account regularly shared pro-Russian misinformation.
The three photos shared show framed pictures of soldiers killed at the front, their faces seemingly juvenile.
A 21-year-old Ukrainian soldier
The first image in the post shows a framed photo of a young boy. The photo sits on the floor, surrounded by candles and Ukrainian flags. At the bottom of the photo, there is a date of birth and death written. The date of birth is February 2005, indicating that the boy was only 18 at the time of death in June 2023.
However, a simple reverse image search on Yandex, the Russian search engine, reveals the real origins of this image in an article from January 2023 published by the Ukrainian online media Vikna.if, about the burial of a 21-year-old Ukrainian soldier.
There's a different man in the original photo, who appears to be older. There's no date of birth or death either, indicating that the viral photo has been digitally edited.
Another soldier... 26 years old
In the July 17 publication, a second photo shows a grave covered with flowers in the colours of Ukraine upon which sits a framed photo of a young boy. According to the sign above the frame, the boy was born in September 2006 and died in May 2023, at the age of 16.
A reverse image search (click here to see how) once again reveals the original photo. It was posted by an Instagram user in June 2023 and shows a different, older man. The name and dates have also been digitally altered: the man was born in 1996, not 2006.
However, the FRANCE 24 Observers team was unable to identify the origin of the third photo shared in the viral July 17 post.
This is not the first time that the claim that Ukraine uses "child soldiers" has been shared by pro-Russian accounts on social networks.
In January, our team investigated a video purporting to show three "children" sent to the front by Ukraine, two of whom we were able to identify, and are in fact of age. When questioned by our editorial team, the NGO Amnesty International stated that it was "not aware of any documented cases of child soldiers in the Ukrainian army". Since then, we have still not identified any images showing children being recruited by the Ukrainian army.
Read moreDoes this video really show children on the front lines of the war in Ukraine?
