Fact Check: Were Dead Russian Soldiers Packed Into Grisly 'Meat Cubes'?

Weeks into President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia was accused of deploying "mobile crematoriums" to cover up a significant loss of personnel.

Now, more than 16 months into the war, some social media users have claimed that Russia is using a grisly method to dispose of its dead soldiers.

The Claim

The claim that the bodies Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine have been packed into "meat cubes" has been spread across multiple social media platforms, including on Twitter, Reddit, Telegram, and on 4chan, an anonymous forum.

"Sergei now understand what is happening. Grind down our forces but not approach fortified defences. Eventually our whole army turned into meat cubes," Twitter user @SithGayLavrov posted on July 4. The account appears to be a parody of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and the user's tweet has been viewed more than 3,000 times.

Another July 4 tweet, with 1.8 million views, showed pictures of said "meat cubes" with the poster saying in the comments section: "It's how russia brings their dead soldiers back home."

"Russian meat cube," a Reddit post on July 4 stated.

"In Shebekino, compressed cubes of dead mobiks [Russian conscripts] fell off a truck. Local residents voice their displeasure on telegram," a July 4 Reddit post stated.

On the 4chan forum, one user on Tuesday shared several images of what appears to be a slab of meat dumped on a roadside. The post claimed Russians "press their dead into meat cubes." Responding to that post, another anonymous user wrote: "So this is why Russian has 0 casualties from the war. The Gelatinous Cube will devour Ukraine."

A Telegram post published on Tuesday, viewed more than 10,000 times, shared the same images with the caption: "No body bags? No problem! Just crush your comrades into meat cubes for easy transportation!"

That post said the images were geolocated to Shebekino, in Russia's Belgorod region, located near the Ukrainian border.

And one of images circulating online was shared on Reddit earlier this week, with one user claiming it shows "human bodies squashed in the trash compactor into a delicious meat cube." Other posts on the platform also repeated the claim.

The Facts

Newsweek found no reliable evidence to support the claim that bodies of dead Russian soldiers were pressed into "cubes," and several reports indicated that the photos were taken out of context.

Local Belgorod news outlet bel.ru reported on Tuesday, the same day that most of the posts online mentioning "meat cubes" came out, that an animal shelter called "Angel" in the Shebekinsky city district received 2 tons of frozen food—livers and intestines—which were left on a road near the shelter. But a lack of equipment meant workers couldn't remove it, which subsequently caused a foul smell in the area. Other Russian outlets also offered similar reports.

The news outlet shared the same images that have been circulating online, accompanying the claims.

The shelter has previously acknowledged receiving donations of pet food from charities, including in a July 4 VK post. "We express our gratitude to...Olga Vatomskaya for helping the animals of Shebekino and the Angel shelter with food," read part of the post.

The owner of the shelter, Irina Kharitonova, told reporters that the "frozen remains" are humanitarian aid from a company called LenKorm. She said two tons of frozen liver and intestines were delivered to the shelter, adding that she wasn't sure when it could be removed.

"The administration, ecology and veterinary medicine have already attacked us. We called all the tractors, but they are busy. We don't know what to do. When it will be possible to remove it, it is not clear," she told bel.ru, according to a Google translation.

On June 2, again before the online posts appeared, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov had promised that animals left at home by residents who evacuated in response to a recent incursion by anti-Vladimir Putin militia that crossed into the region, would be fed.

The governor said "animal feed" has been handed over to all villages where people have been resettled, and to Shebekino.

The Ruling

False.

So far Newsweek has been unable to find any evidence to support the "meat cube" claims.

According to local reports, the images of slabs of meat packed in between wooden craters show leftovers of expired animal feed in Russia's Belgorod region, not the bodies of Russian soldiers.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team