Russia uses AI to portray "successes" at the front — ISW
Kyiv • UNN
Russia’s Ministry of Defense and Russian milbloggers continue to exaggerate Russian advances in the Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole directions. According to ISW analysts, the Kremlin is using artificial intelligence to portray Russia’s "successes" at the front.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense and Russian milbloggers continue to exaggerate Russian advances in the Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole directions. This is stated in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), according to UNN.
Details
Analysts point out that this trend is occurring "as part of systematic Russian cognitive warfare efforts aimed at spreading claims of significant Russian gains for informational effect."
In particular, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov publicly inspected Russia’s Eastern Grouping of Forces on August 15, and Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that the Eastern Grouping of Forces had captured Rybalske (southwest of Oleksandrivka) and 19 settlements as part of its summer campaign.
A Russian milblogger ... published a large number of videos on August 14 and 15. ... They show Russian servicemen who reportedly wave flags. ... "Warrior of the Far East" claims that the published videos are a response to recent videos showing the raising of the Ukrainian flag, likely referring to Ukraine’s August 12 statement that 26 villages had been liberated in the Oleksandrivka direction as a result of Ukraine’s counteroffensive from January to August 2026
ISW believes that a significant portion of the videos published by "Warrior of the Far East" is not authentic, as some video fragments were likely generated or altered using artificial intelligence, while other videos contain older footage presented as new.
"The messaging pattern of Russia’s Ministry of Defense and Russian milbloggers corresponds to the Kremlin’s systematic cognitive warfare efforts aimed at fabricating claims of Russian tactical successes in areas where Russian forces do not hold stable positions, in order to falsely portray the front line as collapsing, contrary to available evidence," the analysts conclude.
As a reminder
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed to have established control over Shcherbakivka in the Kharkiv region. The village was removed from the registry back in 1997 due to depopulation.