Russian military units and pro-war bloggers have circulated dozens of videos that appear to have been generated or altered with artificial intelligence to exaggerate Russia’s battlefield gains in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported this week, citing analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The most prominent case involves Dobropillia, a town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. In mid-October, Russian commanders reported to President Vladimir Putin that they had captured it. Shortly afterward, Russia’s Defense Ministry released footage showing Russian soldiers raising flags amid the town’s ruins.
Analysts found signs of digital manipulation in the footage. In one scene, a soldier waves a Russian flag from the window of a damaged building, and the movements of both the soldier and the flag appear unnatural. “No doubt this segment has been manipulated,” Ruslan Leviev, head of the open-source investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team, told the Financial Times. Other suspected videos showed distorted figures, flags that suddenly vanish and details that change from frame to frame.
Ukraine denied on October 20 that it had lost Dobropillia and accused Russian commanders of misleading Putin. As of November, Ukrainian forces continue to hold positions in the town, although ISW has assessed that Russian troops carried out an infiltration mission into its southern part.
Between June 1 and August 30, ISW identified at least 35 videos posted by Russian military units and military bloggers that may have been generated or altered with AI. Ten of them were assessed as fake with a high degree of confidence. The videos feature fighters from at least 10 regiments and brigades, and some were circulated by Russian state media and the Defense Ministry. ISW said the true number is likely higher, given the limits of current AI detection tools, and warned that newer generative tools can produce footage without obvious visual errors.
According to the Financial Times, citing sources close to the Kremlin, Putin’s insistence on victory is pushing commanders to exaggerate their territorial gains. Such claims travel up the chain of command and eventually reach Putin in official reports, analysts said, potentially giving him a distorted picture of his forces’ progress.
Analysts said the videos also serve a broader purpose: creating a false narrative that Ukraine’s front line is collapsing and that the West should give up.
The Financial Times said Russia’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. It remains unclear who produced or edited the Dobropillia footage.
