US Senator called by deepfake former Ukrainian foreign minister asking about long-range strikes on Russia

Benjamin L. Cardin, Сhairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has received a Zoom call from someone claiming to be former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The caller began acting "out of character", asking questions about permission to strike Russia with long-range missiles.

As reported by The New York Times, the Senate security office’s email stated that Cardin had received an email, apparently from Dmytro Kuleba, requesting a conversation via Zoom. During the video call, the person looked and sounded like the former Ukrainian foreign minister.

However, Cardin became suspicious when "Kuleba" began to ask "politically charged questions in relation to the upcoming election". 

The Kuleba impersonator was particularly interested in Cardin's opinion on long-range strikes on Russian territory, the letter says. Cardin ended the call and informed State Department authorities of what had happened.

Although the Senate security office’s email did not specify that Cardin was involved, two Senate officials familiar with the matter have confirmed that it was about him.

Cardin partially confirmed the episode in a statement on Wednesday evening in which he admitted that "in recent days, a malign actor engaged in a deceptive attempt to have a conversation with me by posing as a known individual". However, he did not say that this person was Kuleba and made no reference to Ukraine.

John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, said recently that Americans should take Russia's intentions to interfere in the US elections seriously.

A representative of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said that Russia is creating more artificial intelligence content to influence the US presidential election than any other country.