KIEV: Facebook has taken down a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the midst of Russia's escalating attack on Kiev, Facebook's parent company, Meta, has revealed that it has removed a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urging citizens to "lay down guns."

In the footage, Zelensky appears to be standing in front of a presidential podium and a backdrop with the Ukrainian coat of arms on both. Zelensky reportedly wears a green shirt and talks in Ukrainian, appearing to persuade his people to lay down their guns. However, Meta's chief of security, Nathaniel Gleicher, tweeted on Wednesday that the video had been deleted from the company's platforms.

"Our teams discovered and erased a deepfake video pretending to depict President Zelensky making a statement he never made earlier today. It first emerged on a supposedly hijacked website before spreading over the internet "Gleicher remarked.

Meanwhile, Zelensky exposed the video in a video posted on his official Instagram account. "In response to the most recent immature provocation, I only recommend that Russian Federation forces lay down their arms and return home. We are defending Ukraine at home "he said.

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