Image of British military coffins does not show recent casualties in Ukraine

The context

A user on X (formerly Twitter) recently posted a photo of multiple Union Jack flag-draped coffins and a Ukrainian flag with the caption, "18 British Special Forces were killed in Ukraine. They were liquidated in the Odessa Region." The post garnered over 100,000 views on the platform.

However, this image is unrelated to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It originates from a 2006 British Royal Air Force (RAF) Nimrod crash in Afghanistan.

What we found

Using a reverse image search, we traced the image to a 2006 BBC article about 14 British military personnel who lost their lives in an RAF Nimrod aircraft crash in Afghanistan. The image shows the fallen servicemen's bodies being repatriated from Afghanistan to the RAF base near Kinloss, Scotland.

The edited image recently circulated on social media (left) and BBC RAF Kinloss homecoming in 2006 (right).

A comparison of the original 2006 image with the currently circulated version clearly shows that the Ukrainian flag in the recent photo was digitally edited into the image. In the original, the Union Jack flag is present.

Further reverse image search results suggest this is a resurfacing claim. In July, Dutch citizen journalist and pro-Russian political activist Sonja van den End shared a similar claim on X, stating, "Russian air force destroys British sabotage group in Odessa. 18 British special forces soldiers (SAS) were killed, and 25 others wounded in the precision strike." Douglas MacGregor, a retired U.S. colonel and pro-Russian political commentator, later amplified this claim. His repost reached nearly two million users. 

These claims remain unverified and were criticized by Dmytro Pletenchuk, former Chief of Strategic Communications for the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine. In a Facebook post, Pletenchuk dismissed the claim as baseless, stating, "Beyond her words, there is no evidence."

The verdict

The image is from 2006 and is unrelated to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It shows the aftermath of a British Royal Air Force Nimrod crash in Afghanistan, not British Special Forces casualties in Ukraine.