Russian military turns to deepfake videos to claim battlefield success

The Financial Times, citing sources close to the Russian president, says Russian generals are passing Putin edited AI videos that purport to show the seizure of Ukrainian settlements. The false reports travel up the chain of command, so by the time they reach the General Staff and the president, Russian forces have often already withdrawn from the positions they were ordered to take. "By the time they all manage to report, our forces have already withdrawn," one source told the FT. "As a result, both sides suffer enormous losses. That is why Stalin had people executed for this."

The FT says the number of apparently fabricated videos is already in the dozens. While they were previously distributed mainly by Russian military bloggers, similar material now appears in official Russian Ministry of Defense statements. In October the ministry published a video showing a Russian flag in Dobropillia; Ruslan Leviev, head of the Conflict Intelligence Team, pointed to signs of editing, including an unnatural change in the flag's position.

In September Putin claimed that since the beginning of the year Russian troops had captured 6,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory. OSINT analysts cited by the FT estimate the actual increase in Russian-controlled territory at no more than 1,500 square kilometers. The Institute for the Study of War, taking Ukrainian counteroffensive operations into account, puts Russia's net territorial gain from January to October at only 119 square kilometers. ISW researchers identified at least 35 videos that may have been created using AI between June and August and determined 10 of them to be forgeries with a high degree of confidence.

UNITED24 Media and Українські Національні Новини both relay the FT's findings, noting that Russian military units and pro-war bloggers are circulating the altered footage to report "seizures" of towns such as Dobropillia in the Donetsk region that Russia does not actually control.