PHOTOFAKE: A photo of a destroyed Ukrainian Air Force base after a bombardment by Russian Iskanders

A supposed photo of a destroyed Ukrainian Air Force base after a bombardment by Russian Iskanders is being circulated online. It shows destroyed F-16 aircraft.

However, this is a photo fake. The image was created using artificial intelligence.

Using reverse search, we found that the image was first shared by the Facebook page “Military Aviation”. This account regularly publishes content generated with artificial intelligence. For example, it has posted several photos of UFOs crashing into passenger planes and landing on Earth with them.

Certain details of the original image indicate it was generated by AI. Notably, in the lower left corner, the tail section of the aircraft is in place of the cockpit. This is a common occurrence when AI generates a complex image with many elements: the tool prioritizes overall composition, sacrificing the accuracy of individual details, especially the background and corners.

Although fires and smoke are visible in the background, the allegedly damaged planes in the foreground do not show clear signs of burning, melted metal, or soot, which would be typical for such large-scale destruction. The smoke and fire look more like separate elements superimposed on the background than the result of explosions involving military equipment. Some fires appear to be burning the ground, with nothing visible under the smoke.

The wreckage of the destroyed aircraft is scattered too chaotically and does not match the trajectory of a real explosion. Many planes are damaged similarly, as if copied, which is uncharacteristic of actual airstrikes that cause unique destruction depending on the type of munition, angle of impact, etc.

Moreover, combat aircraft are not placed so tightly and densely in one area on air bases. Such a concentration of destroyed planes along with completely intact ones in a small area looks unrealistic. Typically, aircraft are dispersed across the base to minimize losses, so targeted strikes would either be more precise, destroying fewer planes entirely but causing greater infrastructure damage, than what is shown in the photo.

In addition, only F-16 aircraft are visible in the image. However, they do not yet form the core of Ukraine’s combat fleet, making it unlikely that so many F-16s would be stationed at a single base. Ukraine’s Air Force still actively uses Soviet-era aircraft (MiG-29, Su-27, Su-25, Su-24M). If this were an attack on a Ukrainian base, the mix of aircraft would be more diverse.

Looking closely at some of the aircraft, one can see blurred or missing inscriptions and markings on the bodies, which do not match the real symbols of the Ukrainian Air Force. AI often generates textures that imitate inscriptions or signs but are meaningless.

We confirmed our suspicions using the Sightengine tool, which detects generated images. It showed with 99% certainty that the image was created using AI.

To capture readers’ attention, AI-generated images are increasingly being shared online and passed off as real photos. Previously, we already proved that a video showing Ukrainian pilots performing a complex combat maneuver called “Carousel” was created by AI.