Russian Families Use AI Deepfakes to Mourn Soldiers Killed in Ukraine
Key Takeaways
- ▸Russian families are using generative AI to create deepfakes of deceased soldiers killed in Ukraine, with some videos used at funerals to mourn loved ones
- ▸Content creators are offering to generate personalized deepfakes for fees, with the practice gaining popularity since mid-2025
- ▸Responses are sharply divided between those who find comfort in the videos and those who consider them deeply unethical and disturbing
Summary
Russian families are increasingly using artificial intelligence to create deepfakes and AI-generated videos of loved ones killed fighting in Ukraine, a trend that gained popularity since mid-2025. The practice involves generating videos of soldiers in military uniforms embracing family members, sometimes depicted ascending to heaven with angels or creating farewell letters. These videos are often shared on social media by relatives of fallen servicemen, portraying them as heroes and typically omitting context about Ukraine's destruction.
One notable case involves popular blogger Katya Jin, who posted AI-generated content to her 10 million TikTok followers showing her and her husband (who disappeared at the front) reuniting. She subsequently offered to create similar deepfakes for other families for a fee, requiring only photographs to animate. The pattern is remarkably consistent across these videos: soldiers in uniform embrace loved ones before ascending a staircase into a blue sky surrounded by angels, or appear as "ghosts" embracing family from heaven. Some families have even used these deepfakes at actual funerals.
Responses to the practice are starkly divided. While some viewers report being moved to tears, others find the deepfakes deeply disturbing and unethical. Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska, a researcher at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, notes that the psychological and social impact of such technology on the grieving process remains poorly understood. The practice has drawn particular concern from Ukrainians, many of whom are appalled by the hero-centric framing.
- The deepfakes typically portray soldiers as heroes while omitting war's destruction, drawing criticism from Ukrainian observers
Editorial Opinion
The use of AI-generated deepfakes to mourn the dead represents a troubling intersection of grief, technology, and state narrative. While some argue these videos provide comfort to grieving families, they risk commodifying grief and enabling emotional manipulation in service of patriotic narratives that obscure war's human cost. As this technology becomes increasingly accessible, societies urgently need ethical frameworks to distinguish between genuine mourning tools and instruments designed to reshape collective memory and political understanding.
