russia is using AI-generated videos with tricolors to simulate successes on frontline
russian propaganda has significantly ramped up its use of AI to create fake videos showing flags being raised in various sectors of the front. Such disinformation campaigns were particularly active in the run-up to May 9.
According to a report by the Institute for the Study of War, the occupiers previously distributed short, isolated videos, but now the kremlin has moved on to complex AI editing. Propagandists are generating entire series of clips where russian tricolor flags are supposedly raised over Ukrainian Armed Forces positions.
The occupiers are using infiltration tactics — short raids by small groups that manage only to plant a flag and flee. The footage is supplemented with AI-generated content to create the illusion of a “broad offensive” and a “collapse of the front,” which does not correspond to reality.
The increase in the number of such videos ahead of “Victory Day” indicates an attempt by the russian military command to compensate for the lack of significant territorial gains and to “report” to the kremlin in virtual space.
The Center previously debunked one of these AI-generated fakes, which claimed that soldiers of the 81st Airborne Brigade had allegedly “defected to the russian side” and raised russian flags. Verification showed that the video was entirely AI-generated, and the footage of the flags was filmed back in the winter at completely different locations.
