The video showing Volodymyr Zelensky near Kupyansk was not staged. The president’s visit to the frontline city on December 12, 2025, was documented by official announcements, footage from the scene, and coverage by independent media, while OSINT analysts independently confirmed the location through geolocation. The clip promoted by propagandists as evidence of a “hologram” or green-screen effect is unrelated archival material from 2022, originally produced for a technology demonstration, and has no connection to Zelensky’s address from the field.
On December 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region, recording a video message beside the city’s damaged entrance sign. The visit came a day after Ukraine’s Defense Forces announced a successful counterattack in the Kupyansk sector, which pushed Russian troops out of the city’s northern districts and several nearby settlements.
Against that backdrop, Russian propaganda outlets moved quickly to cast doubt on the visit, pushing claims that Zelensky never went to Kupyansk and that the footage was instead recorded in a studio using a so-called green screen, or chroma key.
Some Telegram channels took the claim a step further, alleging that Zelensky’s video “from near Kupyansk” was actually filmed in Kyiv by the California-based U.S. company Lucasfilm. As purported evidence, they circulated a clip demonstrating the creation of a digital portrait of the Ukrainian president, arguing that such an image could be easily superimposed onto any background.
There is no doubt that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was physically present in Kupyansk on December 12, 2025, as part of a working visit. He recorded his address on site, in a frontline area, with the sounds of explosions audible in the background, and used the appearance to thank Ukrainian soldiers for their service.
Zelensky said that despite Russian claims about the city’s supposed “capture,” Ukraine’s Defense Forces continue to hold Kupyansk and are making tactical gains in the area.
During the trip, Zelensky visited the forward command post of the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade in Kupyansk alongside Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, where he met with service members and presented state awards. He also stopped at the command center of the Kupyansk tactical group, receiving briefings on efforts to identify and eliminate remaining Russian units, counter-sabotage operations, and plans for the city’s continued defense.
Taken together, the evidence points to a series of official visits and events documented with photos and videos, effectively disproving claims that Zelensky’s appearance in Kupyansk was staged.
Independent international outlets corroborated that Ukrainian forces had reclaimed sections of Kupyansk and encircled Russian units, with Zelensky’s visit underscoring both the operational reality and morale support for Ukrainian troops.
It is worth noting that on November 21, 2025, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed the “complete capture” of Kupyansk. Ukrainian authorities refuted these assertions, and subsequent battlefield developments confirmed the success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations.
Ukrainian OSINT groups and independent media geolocated the filming site of Zelensky’s video address, linking the shot with the city entrance sign to the actual southern entrance of Kupyansk along the P07 highway (coordinates: 49.6934636, 37.5858523). Analysts estimated the distance to Russian positions at roughly 1.15 km, with the nearest “gray zone” about 500 meters away, according to reporting by outlets including 24 Kanal.
Claims by Russian propagandists that Zelensky’s video was filmed using a green screen are unfounded. The video they cite as “evidence” is unrelated to his visit to Kupyansk.
The video cited by propagandists was originally published on the Founders Forum YouTube channel on June 28, 2022. It depicts the creation of a Zelensky hologram in a Kyiv studio using a green screen and is titled Behind the Scenes: President Zelenskyy’s Holographic & AR Address to Europe’s Tech Community.
The hologram was produced for Zelensky’s June 15, 2022, address to attendees of four European technology festivals. Evercoast, the company behind the project, presented it as a demonstration of augmented reality. The project is unrelated to Zelensky’s December 2025 visit to Kupyansk or his frontline video address.
Moreover, the technology behind the hologram inherently precludes its use for a field video address. The Evercoast project was filmed under controlled studio conditions, with professional lighting, specialized equipment, and extensive post-production. This setup cannot replicate spontaneous recording on the front line, open-terrain conditions, or the presence of real combat sounds in the background.
Unlike the studio hologram, Zelensky’s Kupyansk address was recorded on location, featuring natural lighting, a visibly damaged environment, and audible combat sounds. These elements are impossible to replicate within the controlled conditions of the 2022 AR demonstration created for European tech events.
In sum, the hologram footage propagated by Russian outlets is an archival, out-of-context clip and provides no basis to claim that President Zelensky’s Kupyansk address was staged.
Earlier, StopFake debunked similar claims in the report Zelensky’s Bakhmut Visit Is Staged.
