"Deepfake-Klitschko": Melynk warns of "perfidious weapon" - Mayors of Vienna and Madrid also fooled
Created: 06/27/2022, 09:57
By: Franziska Schwarz
Andriy Melnyk, Ambassador of Ukraine in Germany.
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
After a scammer attack on Berlin's mayor Giffey: The Ukraine ambassador Melnyk considers the trust between Berlin and Kyiv in the Ukraine war to be "stable".
The news ticker.
Klitschko
on the
phone
: Now the real one is contacting
Giffey
in the Ukraine conflict.
"Deepfake" attempt
in the
Ukraine war
: Melnyk warns of hybrid warfare.
Vienna
and
Madrid
also
affected: Wrong Klitschkos call the mayor.
This
news ticker
on German reactions to the Ukraine war is constantly
updated
.
Update from June 27, 6:47 a.m
.: The Ukrainian President Selenskyj (44) joins the G7 deliberations at Schloss Elmau via video.
It's about weapons, but also about long-term support for the shattered country.
Already at the weekend he had again called for more military aid for his country.
Zelenskyj sees Ukraine in a difficult phase of the war.
For the first time in three weeks, the capital Kyiv was fired at with rockets again at the weekend.
In addition, after weeks of fighting, Russia was able to take control of the city of Sievjerodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.
"Deepfake-Klitschko": Melynk warns of "perfidious weapon" - Mayors of Vienna and Madrid also fooled
First report from June 26, 2022
Berlin – Spectacular incident in the Ukraine war: the phone call with a wrong Klitschko also caused malice over Franziska Giffey.
But not by Andriy Melnyk.
"No deepfakes or other tricks by the Russians can shake the trust between Ukraine and Germany," the Ukrainian ambassador told
Welt am Sonntag (WamS)
.
Klitschko on the phone: Now the real one is contacting Giffey in the Ukraine conflict
The real Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev, spoke in the
picture
about "criminal activity", which the state security authorities are investigating.
He now offered Giffey
a phone call via the official channels via
picture .
She accepts that "very gladly", tweeted the SPD politician.
A video call between the Governing Mayor of Berlin and the alleged Klitschko had been prematurely terminated - after considerable doubts about the authenticity of the interlocutor.
The Berlin Senate Chancellery announced this on June 24th.
"Deepfake" attempt in the Ukraine war: Melnyk warns of hybrid warfare
The Senate Chancellery said it appears the alleged Klitschko was a "deepfake," a technology that uses artificial intelligence to insert real people's faces into photos or films.
So it seems as if the real person is speaking.
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According to Melnyk, the incidents show that deepfakes need to be taken much more seriously as part of Russia's hybrid warfare.
"It's a perfidious psychological weapon and the technology keeps getting better," he told
WamS
.
Ukraine war: Mayors of Vienna and Madrid also deepfake targets
According to media reports from Austria and Spain, the mayors of Vienna and Madrid were also called by the wrong Klitschko.
The Spaniard is also said to have broken off the call quickly.
(frs with AFP)