PHOTOFAKE: Ukrainian soldier published a photo of a boy allegedly killed by the Ukrainian Defense Forces in Sudzha

A screenshot of a post allegedly made by Ukrainian soldier Artur Yakovitskyi is being circulated online. In it, the man attached a photo of a boy supposedly killed in Sudzha by the Defense Forces of Ukraine and stated that he was not involved in the killing. He also claimed that those responsible had been punished.

However, this is a photofake. The image of the deceased child was generated using AI. The soldier in whose name the fake was spread is missing.

AI-generated photo

There are inconsistencies in the photo of the allegedly deceased boy. In particular, there is no visible blood or other injuries that would suggest the child died. The skin appears smooth and almost blurred. All these signs suggest the image could have been created using AI.

The Hive Moderation tool, designed to detect generated photos, confirmed with 82.9% probability that the image was created using artificial intelligence.

Profile managed on behalf of the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier

The main photo on Artur Yakovitskyi’s Facebook profile shows several soldiers, making it impossible to determine who owns the profile. At the same time, a man with the same name and surname went missing on February 28, 2025, in the Sudzha district of the Kursk region. On social media, his acquaintances also posted information about the search for Yakovitskyi. On April 2, a Telegram channel that posts data on Ukrainian prisoners of war published a post stating that the soldier’s phone had ended up in Russian hands and attached the corresponding video.

In the comments under the post, where the soldier writes, “I no longer care what happens to me“, a user with the nickname “Valia Oseledchuk”, claiming to be Yakovitskyi’s aunt, stated that he was not the one publishing the posts. “This child (Yakovitskyi — ed.) is officially missing, and the phone is with the Russians,” the woman wrote. This comment has since been deleted. We could not verify whether the woman is truly the soldier’s relative — her Facebook page is empty. 

We could not confirm that the posts are being published from the missing soldier’s real account. The profile that shared the photo of the allegedly killed child appears suspicious. It contains only three posts, the first of which is a changed profile picture published in January 2025, that is, three months before the fake was circulated. Additionally, the “current city” and “hometown” sections list Zhytomyr, while the place of education is listed as Father Arturo Parish School in the Dominican Republic. This discrepancy may indicate that the profile belongs to a bot. Russians often register bot farms and list distant countries as the location of such profiles to divert suspicion from themselves.

So there are a few versions — either the Russians used an existing account of the missing Yakovitsky or created a new one. In any case, the profile is not controlled by a Ukrainian soldier.

Previously, we debunked a photofake claiming that a Ukrainian soldier published evidence of “AFU crimes” in the Kursk region. In reality, the photo showed victims ofthe Russian occupiers.