Pro-Kremlin propagandists are spreading information that the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, was captured by the Russian military. Before this, it was reported that after a large-scale missile strike on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, “one of the important Ukrainian figures” was allegedly eliminated.

In fact, this information is not true, write the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. To create the fake, propagandists used deepfake technology with Budanov’s face. 

By the way, at the 2024 Kyiv Stratcom Forum, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate said: the most absurd Russian fake was that he was killed last year. In addition, propagandists have already captured Budanov - they spread this fake back in October 2023.