Two Ukrainian lawmakers are the latest targets of AI-generated disinformation, with pro-Kremlin Telegram channels circulating deepfake videos that make them appear to call for peace talks and mourn territorial losses. NewsGuard identified the fakes featuring Andriy Levus, former deputy head of Ukraine’s Security Service, and Ivan Yunakov, a member of Zelenskyy’s party. The videos show the usual tells — unnatural blinking, flat vocal delivery, stiff facial movements — but they still managed to rack up 130,000 views in just two weeks.
The playbook is familiar. Back in 2022, a cruder deepfake made Zelenskyy himself appear to urge surrender. That video was technically rough by today’s standards, but the intent was identical. What’s changed is the production quality and the speed at which these fakes spread across Telegram’s largely unmoderated ecosystem. The infrastructure for pumping this content into Ukrainian-language channels is now well-oiled, and the volume suggests a coordinated effort rather than opportunistic trolling.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth about this kind of propaganda: it works whether or not it gets debunked. If nobody catches a fake, the message circulates unchallenged and shapes perceptions. If fact-checkers do expose it, the damage shifts — people start doubting every video they see, including legitimate ones. That erosion of trust is not a side effect. It’s the point. When you can’t tell real footage from synthetic, the smart play for a bad actor is not to convince you of a specific lie but to convince you that nothing is true.
The broader implication for the information war is sobering. Deepfake detection tools exist, but they’re reactive by nature — a video has to go viral before anyone bothers to analyze it. And for every fake that gets caught, an unknown number slip through undetected. The asymmetry is brutal: creating a convincing deepfake costs pennies and minutes, while debunking one takes expertise, time, and distribution channels that rarely match the reach of the original. That math doesn’t favor the truth, and it’s not going to change on its own.
