Deepfake Video Compilation Falsely Depicts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Belly Dancing

A viral video compilation has circulated repeatedly across TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, falsely presenting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as performing belly dances. The footage is not what it claims to be: according to verified fact-checks, the compilation mixes one genuine clip from Zelenskyy’s earlier entertainment career with two AI-generated deepfakes. The persistence of this content — first documented on September 26, 2023, and continuing to resurface through October 2026 — illustrates how a single piece of fabricated media can keep finding new audiences long after its initial debunking. Understanding how this particular Zelenskyy deepfake video was constructed, and why it keeps spreading, matters for anyone trying to navigate the current information environment around the war in Ukraine.

What the Compilation Actually Contains

The version of the compilation that has been most recently circulating and fact-checked contains three clips in total. The first is a genuine piece of footage drawn from Zelenskyy’s previous career as a comic actor and entertainer, before he entered politics and eventually became Ukraine’s president. The other two clips are AI-generated deepfakes — synthetic video content produced using deepfake algorithms that place Zelenskyy’s likeness onto the body of someone performing belly dancing movements.

The clips are presented without distinction. Overlaid text on versions shared across Facebook and Instagram simply claims the footage shows the President of Ukraine, giving no indication that any of the material is fabricated or that the genuine clip has been stripped of its original context. For a viewer unfamiliar with Zelenskyy’s entertainment background, there is little visual cue to prompt skepticism.

Reuters and Full Fact have both confirmed that the belly-dancing clips attributed to Zelenskyy are deepfakes created with deepfake algorithms. Reuters’ fact-check is direct on this point: the video does not show Ukraine’s president belly dancing. The genuine clip in the compilation is real, but its presence alongside fabricated content serves to blur the line between authentic and synthetic footage.

An Earlier Version and the Pablo Acosta Clip

The compilation has not remained static. An earlier version of the video included five clips rather than three, and its composition differed in a notable way: the first clip in that version did not show Zelenskyy at all. According to Full Fact’s earlier fact-check, that opening clip actually showed Argentinian dancer Pablo Acosta, whose footage was incorporated into the compilation and implicitly presented as depicting the Ukrainian president.

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This detail is significant for several reasons. It demonstrates that the compilation was assembled from multiple sources — some fabricated through AI, some genuine but misattributed, and at least one showing an entirely different person. The inclusion of Acosta’s footage suggests the creators were not simply manipulating Zelenskyy’s image but were willing to incorporate any plausible-looking belly-dancing footage and label it as him.

The shift from a five-clip version to a three-clip version also points to how this type of content evolves as it circulates. Clips are added, removed, or rearranged, making it harder for any single fact-check to serve as a definitive reference for every version a reader might encounter. Each iteration can generate a fresh wave of shares before verification catches up.

Where the Zelenskyy Deepfake Video Originated and How It Spread

The video was originally posted on TikTok, the platform that has become a primary distribution channel for short-form video misinformation. From there, it migrated to Facebook and Instagram, where versions carried overlaid text explicitly identifying the subject as the President of Ukraine. This cross-platform movement is a well-documented pattern: content that gains traction on one platform is quickly repackaged and reposted on others, often with added text or captions that make the false claim more explicit.

The first documented fact-check of the video appeared on September 26, 2023, when Deutsche Welle published a fact-check noting that the fake Zelenskyy belly dance video raised fears about AI-driven disinformation. That early coverage framed the issue correctly: the concern was not just about this single piece of content, but about what it represented — the growing ease with which deepfake technology can be used to fabricate plausible video of a sitting head of state.

Despite that early debunking, the compilation continued to be reshared and fact-checked multiple times through 2024 and into 2026. Full Fact published fact-checks addressing different versions of the compilation on separate occasions, reflecting the content’s stubborn persistence. A Zelenskyy deepfake video of this kind does not simply disappear after a single round of corrections; it re-emerges with each new wave of social media sharing, often reaching audiences who never saw the original debunking.

Why This Type of Content Is Particularly Difficult to Counter

The construction of this compilation exploits a specific vulnerability in how people assess video credibility. The presence of one genuine clip — footage that is real and that does originate from Zelenskyy’s entertainment career — lends the entire compilation a degree of surface plausibility. A viewer who recognizes the genuine clip as authentic may be more likely to accept the surrounding fabricated content as real. This technique, mixing verified and fabricated material, is more effective at generating belief than a compilation consisting entirely of obvious fakes.

→ Read also: Deepfake and Out-of-Context Video Compilations Spread False Narratives About Ukraine, Trump, and School Violence

The deepfake clips themselves are produced using algorithms capable of mapping a target’s facial features onto another person’s body with increasing realism. While deepfake detection tools exist, they are not universally accessible to ordinary social media users, and the quality of synthetic video continues to improve. By the time a viewer applies any critical scrutiny, the content may already have been shared dozens or hundreds of times within their network.

The choice of subject matter — belly dancing — also plays a role in the content’s spread. The footage is designed to be incongruous: a wartime president performing an elaborate dance is inherently attention-grabbing, which drives shares even among people who are skeptical. Sharing to mock or question the content still amplifies it, extending its reach beyond the audience that accepts it uncritically.

The Broader Context of Deepfake Disinformation Around Ukraine

This compilation does not exist in isolation. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been the subject of numerous pieces of fabricated media. The most widely documented earlier example was a deepfake video circulated in March 2022 that purported to show Zelenskyy calling on Ukrainian soldiers to surrender — a video that was quickly identified as fake and removed from major platforms, but not before reaching a significant audience.

The belly-dancing compilation is different in character from that earlier surrender video: it does not carry an explicit political message or instruction. Its effect, if it has one, is more diffuse — undermining the dignity and credibility of a wartime leader through ridicule and fabrication. Whether that effect is the intended purpose of the compilation’s creators is not established by the available evidence; what is established is that the content is fabricated and that it has been repeatedly shared as genuine.

Fact-checkers at Reuters, Full Fact, and Deutsche Welle have all addressed versions of this content, applying consistent findings: the clips showing Zelenskyy belly dancing are not authentic, the compilation mixes real and synthetic footage, and the overlaid text claiming to identify the subject as Ukraine’s president is false. The verified record on this content is clear, even as the content itself continues to circulate in new forms.

What the persistence of this particular Zelenskyy deepfake video ultimately demonstrates is that debunking, however thorough, does not guarantee that false content stops spreading. The compilation has survived multiple rounds of fact-checking across more than three years, resurfacing with altered clip counts and on new platforms. For readers encountering any version of this footage, the established finding from multiple independent sources is unambiguous: the belly-dancing clips are fabricated, and the compilation as a whole is not what its accompanying text claims it to be.

This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed editorially.