Posts share synthetic image of Ukrainian drone attack as real

CLAIM: A photo shows a billboard with a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the word “Stability!” in Russian in front of a giant plume of flames and smoke.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The image is synthetic. It was created using Photoshop and artificial intelligence by an artist from Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine. The artist told The Associated Press that the image is a combined representation of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil depots and Putin’s preordained reelection.

THE FACTS: Amid a new wave of Ukrainian attacks inside Russian territory, including a fire sparked by a drone that fell on an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, social media users are sharing the image as if it is a photo of an actual event.

In the image, a billboard sits in front of a large, raging fire. The word “Stability!” appears in Russian on the billboard, to the left of a portrait of Putin.

One X post that had received approximately 11,000 likes as of Tuesday shared the image without context, stating: “good morning to the russians. the billboard says ‘stability.’”

Some posts made more explicit allegations about the origin of the image.

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“Putin has a propaganda billboard with the word ‘stability’ next to his face,” reads another X post. “A Ukrainian drone made a mockery of that claim as seen behind it.”

But the manufactured image does not depict a real Ukrainian attack. It was created by an artist from Kherson named Bogdan, who requested that his last name not be used due to concerns for his safety.

“This is 100% my job,” he told the AP in a Telegram message. “AI was used for some of the environment details, but everything else I did myself, including the billboard and background. I did this work in Photoshop.”

Bogdan added that the image was meant to represent both Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil depots and Putin’s reelection in a landslide race with an inevitable outcome.

He first posted the image in January to his Telegram channel, @khersondesigner, where he shares his work. On Monday, he re-posted the image on Telegram after it was misrepresented online, writing in Ukrainian: “Unfortunately, the picture became popular without indicating the author, and people really think that it is a photo.” He also posted it on X on March 13.

Posts sharing the image out of context have cropped it to remove a watermark showing the address of Bogdan’s Telegram channel, as well as a length of snowy railroad tracks.

Refineries and oil terminals have been targets of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent days, according to Russian officials.

Ukraine launched a new wave of attacks inside Russian territory on Sunday, local officials said, including one that resulted in a fire sparked by a drone that fell on a refinery in the Krasnodar region. It was extinguished after a few hours. A worker at the refinery died of a heart attack, officials said.

The attack came on the final day of a presidential vote that extended Putin’s rule for another six years, an outcome that was never in doubt.
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.