Twitter Users React to US Casualties in Russia-Ukraine War

July 05, 2023

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In the scope of ongoing war, great attention is paid to the international participants of the events. A discussion broke out on Twitter after the emergence of a photograph of the funeral of an American soldier who died on the battlefield in Ukraine.

On 20 June, Twitter user “Yuliana Dlugaj” (@DlugaiJuly) posted a picture of a funeral procession for an American soldier with a sarcastic caption condemning the parties to war for the lack of negotiations. The account has a modified version of Josef Stalin’s picture as a profile one and it mostly reposts pro-Russia military content from Russia-Ukraine war.

Twitter user “Yuliana Dlugaj” made a few original posts that included memes mocking Ukraine and the United States. It is worth noting that the account posts entirely in English language, including the abovementioned picture. As of 30 June, the post received 59,700 views and around 400 reposts, which was more than usual number for the same kind of posts, and comments varied in support of and against the war.

As the account is believed to be pro-Russian, most of the points expressed are aligned with the Russian perspective. Thus, users celebrated the loss of the soldier and blamed the United States and NATO for “meaningless” casualties.

Twitter user “The Organizer” (@TheOrganizer20) with “Anti EU” caption in the bio provided a picture of more coffins with American flags.

Twitter user “Дима Парков” (@TrollZaRubli [Troll for Rubles]) commented in support of the hypocrisy of the people captured on the picture:

Other comments reiterated the sentiment:

Social media users decried the presence of Americans in the war in Ukraine, questioning the basis on which the soldier ended up in the war and condemning the idea of mercenaryism, speaking of its ignobleness. Twitter user “Tony Wright” (@Tony77377Codolo) stated that nobody made the soldier go to war[1] and user “Bent banana” (@BentBananabent6) supported that opinion, writing “no empathy from me.”[2] Commentators pointed out that there is no official deployment of troops in Ukraine and called for taking the flag off the coffin. [3]

Commentators wrote that only unemployed Americans went to the war in Ukraine and did it only for money or because of their passion for murder.[4]

However, other social media users supported the decision of the deceased soldier, calling for paying respect to him.[5]

The thread author “Yuliana Dlugaj” replied to a comment, decrying US military presence in other conflict zones.[6]

Other social media users discussed how military actions of the United States resembled the campaigns in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Venezuela, Yemen, and Vietnam, condemning military actions and the motivation for them.[7] [8]

Twitter users also echoed a pro-Russian sentiment of calling Ukraine a Nazi regime. [9] [10]

A few pro-Ukrainian accounts expressed respect to the soldier and hinted at the possible resolution of the conflict, which not meet garner much interest among other users in this thread.

User “ابوسلطان” (@Abosultantn) wrote that the United States had not officially authorized the deployment of American troops to Ukraine.[11] However, the comment resembled the syntax used by ChatGPT – AI chatbot by OpenAI. The comparison of the comment and the AI generated reply is provided below.

The picture with the unidentified source and origin spread on Twitter, collecting more than 1,500 likes. Users rejoiced at American losses and declared proof of the official American presence in Ukraine, condemning America from various ideological points of view.

However, for the report to be complete, it is necessary to establish the origin of the picture and its real connection with the conflict in Ukraine.

Source: Yuliana Dlugaj post from Jun 20, 2023 5:55PM https://twitter.com/DlugajJuly/status/1671275628669149187

The picture displays a funeral car allegedly with a body of a soldier came back from Ukraine. The car has an Illinois public transportation vehicle plate with a new 2023 registration sticker.[12]

In the photograph, the silhouette of a Lincoln is barely visible between the symbols 8 and 0, while the upper inscription “Illinois” is covered by a frame.

This information made it possible to narrow the identification area to one state. Since the death of an American soldier in Ukraine is an event of international importance, the news outlets should mention it. Among the recent mentions by news outlets information about US soldiers fought in Ukraine information about Myhailo Yavorskyi can be found[14]. Yavorskyi was a US veteran of Ukrainian heritage lived in Chicago, who departed to Ukraine from the first days of war.

Presumably, it was Yavorskyi’s funeral that was captured in the photo on Twitter. According to the website of the funeral home, he was buried at the S. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Chicago. Except for him, there were no recent graves of young veterans according to the cemetery website.[15] This information helped geolocating the picture.

Source: Google Earth. Maxar Technology, 2023.

Picture of the cemetery found on Google matches the location on the Twitter image.

Source: Google Image

Thus, the Twitter picture is representing the funeral procession of an American soldier who died in the war in Ukraine. We know from news articles that he volunteered to fight, and the American flag is explained by his previous service in the American military.

[1] https://twitter.com/Tony77377Codolo/status/1671482583727632384

[2] https://twitter.com/BentBananabent6/status/1671434349840064514

[3] https://twitter.com/icur1096/status/1671285860510171136

[4] https://twitter.com/PoopyEpic/status/1671300550640517122

[5] https://twitter.com/robinFenn5/status/1671387024035573762

[6] https://twitter.com/DlugajJuly/status/1671420953832595456

[7] https://twitter.com/ZwelithiniQhabi/status/1671443607016857605

[8] https://twitter.com/Rifatsiddique_/status/1671426547532861441

[9] https://twitter.com/roach_ted/status/1671369001715261440

[10] https://twitter.com/writerware/status/1671389198786482178

[11] https://twitter.com/Abosultantn/status/1671500417753047040

[12] https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/why-your-license-plate-stickers-look-different-this-year/