A video is circulating on TikTok in which Ukrainian activist Nataliia Panchenko allegedly insults Poles, calling them “insecure assholes who need an enemy to feel important”, and claiming that “if Ukraine falls, Putin will destroy Poland as well”. As fact-checkers from Demagog have established, this video is a deepfake – artificially generated content created using artificial intelligence that manipulates Nataliia Panchenko’s image and voice. The video appeared on the same day Russian drones violated Polish airspace, seemingly to fuel anti-Ukrainian sentiment on Polish social media.

Why is this a deepfake?

The public initiative Euromaidan-Warsaw, headed by Nataliia Panchenko, published a statement on Facebook denying the authenticity of the video and warning about its role in a disinformation campaign. According to Euromaidan-Warsaw, this is a deliberate attempt to undermine unity between Poles and Ukrainians, weaken support for Ukraine, and destabilize regional alliances:

“We have no doubt that this coordinated campaign is part of a Russian strategy aimed at driving a wedge between Poles and Ukrainians and weakening our unity. We will not allow ourselves to be divided. Together, we are stronger”.

Russian propaganda uses deepfakes and disinformation to inflame tensions between allied countries such as Poland and Ukraine, undermining trust and cooperation. False narratives portraying Ukrainians as ungrateful or hostile are designed to reduce international assistance and solidarity with Ukraine during the war with Russia. Deepfakes are a cheap and effective tool for manipulating public opinion.

In early September 2025, a video filmed at a railway station was circulated in Georgian- and Russian-language Facebook groups. The authors of the posts claimed that the video showed a “mass departure of Ukrainian migrants” — men under the age of 22 who were allegedly leaving Ukraine. One Georgian-language account said that parents were sending young men abroad out of fear that the war would last a long time and that mobilization might affect their children. A Russian-language post added that after 15 October young men supposedly would no longer be able to leave Ukraine. As experts from the Georgian fact-checking organization Mythdetector established, these posts and videos — which were also shared on Russian Telegram channels and on X — are manipulative.

In reality, the video allegedly depicting “Ukrainian migrants leaving the country” is fake. The teenagers seen at the railway station are members of the “Skhid” basketball team, and the video was published on the team’s Instagram and Facebook pages in July 2025. Another video posted the following day shows the teenagers at a training camp in the town of Bar, in Vinnytsia Oblast.

The fake emerged after a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 27 August 2025, which allows men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border during martial law. However, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Pavlo Palisa did not confirm information about a reduction in the conscription age, which further undermines the fake narrative.

Fake posts are circulating on social media claiming that the suspect in the murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in the United States has been sentenced to death. These publications are accompanied by a video showing a Black man resembling the accused receiving a verdict, along with comments such as “All of democratic America was whining along with him”. As fact-checkers at StopFake have established, the video has nothing to do with the Zarutska case, and the court proceedings have not even begun yet.

Why is this a fake?

At present, Decarlos Brown remains under investigation and has been charged with murder. However, the case is still at the pretrial stage, and no decisions regarding punishment have yet been made.