“Ukrainian troops are leaving the right bank of Kherson region and withdrawing from the regional center”, – said a man very similar to the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration in a video that Russian propagandists posted on Telegram on September 8. The address by Oleksandr Prokudin was allegedly recorded several days ago and is to be published after the Armed Forces receive an order to leave Kherson region. However, it turned out that in these frames it was not Prokudin himself, but his digital double, since the clip was generated using artificial intelligence.
The fake video appeared on the Telegram channel “Kherson Resistance”.
“Dear residents of Kherson region. As head of the RMA I address you with important information. The President has agreed to the liberation of the region’s right bank, opening the way to peace. The withdrawal of the Armed Forces to adjacent regions has begun to minimize the risks from the introduction of Russian troops!” – said pseudo-Prokudin.
The video supposedly reached the Russians from their “supporters among the employees of the Kherson Regional Military Administration who hate their leadership and, hiding it, are waiting for Russia’s return to the right bank of Kherson region”. According to the occupiers, the recording was prepared in advance and is to be published after receiving a “special order from Kyiv”. However, this is an outright lie.
You don’t have to be an expert to notice that the movements of Prokudin’s digital double in the video are not synchronized with the sound. Simply put – his lips do not match the words. The clip itself is a compilation of several looped fragments created using artificial intelligence. The voice of the fake head of the RMA was also generated by a computer, so it sounds unnatural.
As for the context, it is hard to imagine that the Ukrainian authorities could agree to withdraw the Armed Forces from the right bank of Kherson region. For the third year the Russians, suffering heavy losses, have been trying to retake the regional center, so no one intends to give them such a gift. In turn, the “surrender” of Kherson, which the occupiers so dream of, would open them a direct path to Mykolaiv and Odesa, which, of course, is not part of Ukraine’s plans.
And one more absurd statement by the occupiers: it turns out Prokudin agreed to record the video because he hopes that the Russians will “forgive” him after this. “The governor carried everything out steadily and quickly. Probably because he hopes for the mercy of Russia, which, he thinks, will forgive him for organizing the withdrawal of Banderites and Nazis from Kherson region without any tricks”, – the Russians summed up their fake video.
Material prepared within the project with the support of the NGO Institute of Mass Information and CzechAid