By Srijit Das
An old photo showing coffins of United States soldiers has recently been shared with a false claim that the picture shows the remains of US troops in coffins who lost their lives in Ukraine while fighting against Russia.
BOOM found that the photo was released by the Pentagon in 2005 and shows the coffins of US crew members who died after a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Kuwait.
The U.S sent Patriot missiles to Ukraine in April this year to support their long battle against Russian airstrikes. However, few days back U.S officials confirmed that a Patriot Defense System in Kyiva suffered a damage due to Russia's aerial attack but continued to be operational, reported The New York Times on May 24. War-torn Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 2 said that the country needs more Patriot air defense system from its allies to completely protect its skies.
The photo is being shared with a caption, "Patriot missile battery operators being sent home from Kiev but this time in coffin. The situation in Ukraine is not as they underestimated. Russia is not USA fighting in Afghanistan for a long period without victory."
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Fact Check
BOOM performed a reverse image search to get details about the picture and found it on stock photo platform Getty Images' website.
The photo is captioned there as, "Caskets bearing the remains of crew members whose Black Hawk helicopter crashed on a night training mission in Kuwait are shown onboard an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Ramstein Air Force Base in this photo released April 28, 2005 by the Pentagon. The release this week of more than 700 images showing the return of American casualties to U.S. military facilities follows Freedom of Information Act requests and a lawsuit charging the Pentagon with failing to comply with the act. The crew was part of the 158th Aviation Regiment, 5th Battalion, 12th Aviation Brigade based in Giebelstadt, Germany."
The photo credit for the image is mentioned as the U.S Department of Defense as per the details on the website.
We also found a Washington Post article from April 29, 2005, about the incident. The report states that the Pentagon released more than 700 photographs clicked by military photographers in response to a lawsuit.
It adds, "The more than 700 photographs, taken by military photographers from 2001 to 2004, show coffins from Iraq and Afghanistan lining the mechanical silver interiors of Air Force C-17 jets. Many depict solemn honor guard ceremonies for the fallen troops at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and other U.S. military facilities."
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