The cyber security team at the tech giant - parent of Facebook and Instagram - said it blocked a set of Russia-linked fake accounts that were part of a social media scheme to undermine Ukraine.

"They ran websites posing as independent news entities and created fake personas across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, and also Russian Odnoklassniki and VK," Meta said in a blog post.

In some cases, "they used profile pictures that we believe were likely generated using artificial intelligence techniques."

The small network of Facebook and Instagram accounts targeted people in Ukraine, using posts to try to get people to visit websites featuring bogus news about the country's effort to defend itself from the invasion by Russia.

Meta said it connected the network to people in Russia and Ukraine, as well as media organisations NewsFront and SouthFront in Crimea.

The US has identified NewsFront and SouthFront as disinformation outlets that get marching orders from Russian intelligence services.

The organisations were among more than a dozen entities sanctioned by Washington for trying to influence the 2020 US presidential election "at the direction of the leadership of the Russian Government."

Meta shut down the bogus accounts and blocked sharing of internet addresses involved in the deception, director of threat disruption David Agranovich said in a briefing.

Bogus claims published by the sites include that the West had betrayed Ukraine and that Ukraine is a failed state, according to Agranovich.

eNCA