Ukraine, since the beginning of the war 302 fake news on over 500 sites

Three years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and 302 fake news stories about the war spread by over 500 sites, the share of false content created by artificial intelligence has grown considerably. A picture is drawn by NewsGuard , the platform that monitors disinformation and has a database called Misinformation Fingerprints: it brings together the false viral narratives that analysts have identified and debunked.

"In the early months of the war, Russian propaganda focused on the prevalence of Nazism in Ukraine," the analysis says. "More recently, Russia has spread false claims about Ukrainian corruption, the alleged decline of political support for Zelensky, and the waste of Western dollars."

Both content and tactics have evolved since the invasion on February 24, 2022. In particular, NewsGuard notes, there has been an increased use of artificial intelligence. In the first year of the war, the platform debunked 112 false claims, one of which was about artificial intelligence; 71 in the second, five of which were about AI; and 119 in the third, 16 of which were about AI.

The first deepfake used by Russia and identified by NewsGuard — in March 2022 — is a blurry, pixelated video showing President Zelensky at a presidential podium urging Ukrainians to surrender. AI has also helped pro-Kremlin sources impersonate credible Western media — including the BBC, CNN, and Bloomberg News — to spread false claims. Since the war began, NewsGuard has debunked 44 false narratives from sites posing as credible media, including 24 in the past year.