Food Shortages at Russian Grocery Stores as Zelenskyy Deepfake Worries Experts

Food shortages at Russian grocery stores are leading to fights, as Western sanctions against the country make basic necessities hard to come by. 

“There were empty shelves — no salt, no sugar, no pasta,” said a woman who shot video of shoppers scrambling for goods.

A Russian blogger gave a tour of his local supermarket. It was well-stocked, but prices have skyrocketed. Milk is up 45%, pasta is up 30% and fish is up 60%.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is deploying a new weapon in the war on Ukraine — deepfake videos. 

One such video claimed to depict President Zelenskyy telling his soldiers to “surrender” and “give up your arms,” but no one was fooled by such an obvious fake. 

“The man’s body doesn’t look like Zelenskyy, his neck doesn’t look like Zelenskyy, his voice doesn’t sound like Zelenskyy and his face just looks kind of odd. But these kinds of deepfakes can fool people, and we need to start getting prepared for how they get improved as well,” deepfake expert Sam Gregory said.

Zelenskyy responded quickly to the deepfake, telling his people there will be "no surrender."

“The only ones who should give up arms are Russian soldiers,” he said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger reached out to his fans in Russia in a video message telling them not to fall for Putin's propaganda.

“To the soldiers who are listening to this, remember that 11 million Russians have family connections to Ukraine, so every bullet you shoot, you shoot a brother or a sister,” Schwarzenegger said. 

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