No, a video showing a Ukrainian funeral procession wasn’t filmed during the current war

Russia's war in Ukraine has killed thousands, extensively damaged some cities and forced millions to flee their homes. 

NATO has estimated 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in the conflict. In mid-March, Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy said that about 1,300 members of the Ukrainian armed forces had been killed.

One video that has been posted across most major social media platforms, including Twitter and YouTube claims to show a Ukrainian soldier's funeral during the war. The video on Twitter had more than 386,000 views and was posted on March 12.

The YouTube video, titled “The Blessed Sacrament Travels The Streets of Ukraine! Christians Kneel As The Lord Jesus Passes!,” was posted to YouTube on March 10. The caption of the video says it was recorded on March 1, 2022.

VERIFY viewer Pat asked us whether this video is accurate.

THE QUESTION

Is the video appearing to show a Ukrainian soldier’s funeral from the current war?

THE SOURCES

• Video posted to RUTUBE, a Russian video sharing platform, and YouTube in 2015
• InVID, a video forensics tool

THE ANSWER

No, the video was not filmed during the current war. VERIFY found this video was first posted to video-sharing platforms in 2015. 

WHAT WE FOUND

Using InVID, a video verification tool, VERIFY analyzed frames of the video to conduct a reverse image search. 

VERIFY found a longer version of the video posted to RUTUBE, a Russian video platform, on April 20, 2015. This was the earliest video VERIFY found posted to a social networking or video platform. The same video was uploaded to YouTube later, in November 2015. 

In both versions, a person can be seen holding a Ukrainian flag. A license plate can be seen on a vehicle with the “BC” prefix, which according to license plate experts, means the vehicle is registered in the Lviv province of Ukraine. 

Due to the lack of clear identifying markers, VERIFY was unable to precisely geolocate this video, but can confirm it was not taken during the current war in Ukraine.