Falsified facts regarding the Ukrainian conflict: spanning from artificial intelligence-made videos to gameplay recordings.
Ukraine vs Russia Disinformation Debunked
🕒 4 mins
Here's the lowdown on the latest disinformation floating around social media, regarding the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
That Russian attack on Ukraine ain't recent
A viral video on social media depicts the bombing of a building followed by multiple explosions. "Russian Iskander missile strikes Ukraine. It's just the beginning," claims the caption in an English X post shared over 5,000 times since June 1. Nope.
This recording isn't fresh off the press. Via a reverse image search on our website, we've found that the video has been circulating on social media since at least 2024. The oldest results, from July 8 (1, 2, 3), show this video being shared for years before June 2022. According to messages on social media, this recording captures the moment when a Russian cruise missile Kh-101 hits the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kiev, reported by various international media outlets (1 and 2). Even the propaganda and fake news detection center D-Intent_Data had to clarify that it's an old recording.
Not a bombing, it's a video game still frame
A 1 minute, 5-second video circulating on social media shows an airport with planes exploding seconds after several light flashes. The post claims, "40 Russian strategic bombers TU-95 destroyed in a daring Ukrainian drone FPV (first-person view) swarm incursion." Uh-uh.
This clip comes from the video game Arma 3. A community note hints that it isn't real footage but a scene from this game. The misinformation purveyor eventually admits in the comments that "it isn't real images." Arma 3's developers themselves announced in a statement that their images are being used to spread disinformation. They offer tips for identifying such content, including looking for "unnatural particle effects" like "explosions" and "smoke." These effects can be seen between seconds 23 and 27, as after the explosion, both the fire and the dust cloud vanish without leaving any marks on the surface they hit, which is quite unnatural and points towards a game. The fact-checker Lead Stories also analyzed the recording and concludes it's a video game.
A deepfake based on a real event. The images are associated with recent reports of Ukrainian forces assaulting a Russian airbase, resulting in more than 40 strategic planes being destroyed. Despite advanced searches, we couldn't find the recording shared on social media, published by other media outlets, or news agencies reporting the incident (1, 2, 3).
That Ukrainian soldier ain't real, it's AI-generated
"Today is my birthday, I'm 28 years old, and I'm from Ukraine," reads an English message shared over 2,000 times since May 31 on the X social network. The post includes an image of a girl in a military uniform in a forest. Nope.
This image isn't genuine, it's fabricated using AI. Our analysis on Verificaour reveals that the image is likely created using AI with 99.5% and 99.56% reliability using Hive Moderation and IVERES tools, respectively. The image shows other signs that it's artificial. When you zoom in on the pan behind the girl, it seems to be floating and has an improper perspective for its position, which suggests the presence of visual anomalies typical of AI-generated content.
After investigating the account that shared this image, we found that its primary focus is publishing AI-created images of female soldiers celebrating their birthday (1, 2, 3, 4), similar to the fabricated Ukrainian soldier.
- The average social media user should be aware that a video depicting a bombing in Ukraine, which has been circulating since at least 2024, is not recent and is actually an old recording of a Russian cruise missile attack on the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kiev.
- In contrast to a viral video game clip on social media showing explosions at an airport, claiming to depict a Ukrainian drone FPV swarm incursion that destroyed 40 Russian strategic bombers, it is, in fact, a scene from the video game Arma 3.
- Although an image of a girl in a military uniform in a forest, shared thousands of times on social media with a birthday message, appears to be genuine at first glance, it is AI-generated and has been created using various AI moderation tools with high reliability.
