Russia Floods Info Space With AI War Videos as Gains Stall – ISW

Russia is using more fake videos generated by artificial intelligence (AI) to portray false battlefield gains in Ukraine, including clips showing Russian flags being raised along the front line, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The group called the trend part of Russia’s broader information warfare that has intensified since winter 2025, with more realistic and heavily edited videos appearing online.

ISW analysts have linked the trend to slowing Russian progress on the ground.

Ukrainian monitoring group DeepState said Russia captured 141 square kilometers (54 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in April – one of its weakest monthly results in over a year, second only to February’s 126 square kilometers (48 square miles).

However, the figures contradict ISW’s recent report that Russia lost ground for the first time since 2024, which estimated that Moscow lost control of 116 square kilometers (48 square miles) during the month. 

Last week,  Russia published a video claiming Ukrainian troops from the 81st Air Assault Brigade surrendered and raised a Russian flag in the Donetsk region village of Piskunivka.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said the footage was fabricated and generated using AI.

ISW says such “flag-raising” videos are appearing more frequently, especially ahead of symbolic dates like Victory Day, as Moscow seeks to project momentum despite limited gains on the ground.

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Russia’s broader AI-driven psychological warfare campaign

Russia is also increasingly deploying AI-generated videos and deepfakes as part of what Ukrainian officials describe as a coordinated psychological warfare campaign aimed at distorting reality and manipulating different audiences.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CDD), citing research by Sensity AI, says more than 1,000 synthetic videos have been identified as part of a structured “narrative kill chain” – a modular disinformation system designed to target specific groups, including soldiers, civilians, and Western audiences.

Officials say military-facing content is aimed at weakening morale by promoting narratives of a collapsing front line, while civilian-focused material seeks to erode trust in institutions and normalize Russian control.

Western-targeted messaging often attempts to discredit Ukraine and reduce international support.

Analysts warn that the ultimate goal is informational chaos – a space where synthetic content becomes so widespread that even real evidence can be dismissed as fake.