Russian military units are using AI-manipulated videos to portray false territorial gains in Ukraine, the British newspaper Financial Times (FT) has reported.
According to the newspaper, Russian army units and pro-war bloggers are distributing videos that appear to have been created or manipulated with the help of artificial intelligence, in an effort to exaggerate claimed battlefield successes.
One example is a video published by Russia’s Ministry of Defence, which allegedly shows Russian forces capturing the city of Dobropillia. However, Ukrainian forces continue to hold their positions in the area.
The video contains an apparent anomaly in the movement of the Russian flag, which suddenly changes position. According to Ruslan Leviev of the investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team, this is one of the indicators suggesting that the footage has been manipulated.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also identified 35 suspicious videos published between June and August in an analysis released on 10 September.
According to the institute, tools used to detect AI-generated content suggest that some of the videos were produced or modified using programmes such as OpenAI’s Sora, Seedance and tools developed by ByteDance.
The technique often involves combining authentic footage from specific locations with AI-generated frames showing Russian soldiers raising the Russian flag.
ISW warns that this makes it more difficult to verify the presence of military forces in a particular area, as geolocating footage alone can no longer be considered sufficient evidence.
According to the institute, the aim of these videos may be to weaken Western support for Kyiv by creating the impression that Ukraine’s front lines are collapsing.
However, ISW assesses that these efforts are being carried out by individual military units and pro-war bloggers rather than as part of a centralised Russian military policy.
One possible reason for the practice, according to the Financial Times, is that some units are trying to conceal their failures from their superiors. Some of the videos have subsequently been promoted by Russian state media and the Ministry of Defence itself.
