Russian military generates AI deepfakes to claim territorial gains in Ukraine — FT
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Russian military units are deploying AI-generated deepfake videos to fabricate the capture of Ukrainian towns (Photo: Press Service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/via Reuters)
Russian military units are deploying AI-generated deepfake videos to fabricate the capture of Ukrainian towns they do not control, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Nov. 9.
One prominent clip purported to show Russian troops establishing control over Dobropillya in Donetsk Oblast, a seizure that field commanders prematurely reported to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in October. In footage circulated by the Russian Ministry of Defense, a soldier is seen waving the Russian tricolor from the window of a heavily damaged structure.
"The flag in the video suddenly shifts position, appearing as though it were abruptly attached to the flagpole by its opposite edge, which cannot be explained by compression artifacts or sensor errors. Without question, this fragment was fabricated," stated Ruslan Leviev, head of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) open-source investigative group.
Nearly three weeks after Putin publicly announced the fall of Dobropillya, Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to firmly hold their defensive lines within the city, the newspaper reported.
"These videos are part of a broader information operation or cognitive warfare campaign designed to present an eventual Russian victory in Ukraine as inevitable," noted Daniel Mealie, geospatial intelligence team lead at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
ISW identified 35 distinct deepfake videos published by Russian military units and pro-Kremlin military bloggers that were likely generated or digitally altered using AI tools. Many clips display glaring visual anomalies, such as soldiers rendered with unnatural anatomical proportions or infantry and flags dematerializing into surrounding foliage.
Mealie assessed that the fabrication and distribution of these deepfakes represent grassroots initiatives by individual Russian combat units rather than a centrally coordinated strategic program. Nonetheless, the Russian Ministry of Defense reposted several of the clips through its official channels despite obvious markers of digital tampering.
Individuals familiar with Kremlin dynamics noted that Putin's rigid demand for battlefield breakthroughs at any cost incentivizes field commanders to invent phantom territorial conquests, FT reported.
"When someone claims to have taken a settlement, they brag about it to their colonel, who brags to the general, who brags to the lieutenant general, who in turn reports it to the General Staff, which takes it to the commander-in-chief. By the time they finish reporting it up the chain, our troops are already retreating," one source told the publication.
Subsequent operational orders are drawn up based on holding ground and capturing the next objective, even though Russian forces are no longer physically present at the reported coordinates. That dynamic is why "Stalin shot people for doing this," the source observed.
Several Russian pro-war military bloggers acknowledged the trend, openly mocking frontline formations for relying on crude digital simulations. Units frequently fabricate and circulate the fake videos under intense command pressure over lackluster operational performance, FT noted.
In a video published in July by military blogger Divgen, a soldier bearing a Russian tricolor was allegedly shown outside the village of Bilyi Kolodyaz in Kharkiv Oblast. However, the figure appeared unnaturally oversized before abruptly vanishing from the frame. A week later, the Russian Defense Ministry formally claimed the "liberation" of Bilyi Kolodyaz, even as the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces remained stalled 10 kilometers (approx. 6 miles) outside the perimeter.
Moscow will likely continue inflating fictitious battlefield successes, according to Dara Massicot, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
"The gap between claims and reality continues to widen. The Kremlin faces zero domestic pressure to present verified data or walk back these false assertions," Massicot said.
On Oct. 20, Presidential Office head Kyrylo Budanov stated that Dobropillya in Donetsk Oblast remains under Ukrainian sovereignty, dismissing Russian claims of its capture as fabrications.
The National Guard of Ukraine similarly confirmed stable control over the suburban settlements surrounding Dobropillya, including Zoloty Kolodyaz, Petrivka, and Novotroyitske. Military officials noted that Russian infantry periodically attempt to infiltrate village outskirts in isolated pairs merely to photograph or film themselves displaying Russian flags to stage proof of capture before being eliminated.
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