Brecht Castel Profile picture
Jun 15 β€’ 26 tweets β€’ 39 min read
A Russian missile πŸ‡·πŸ‡Ί killed at least three Ukrainian citizens πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ on April 16 in Kyiv.

This was NO ordinary attack: it was initiated by volunteers using #OSINT πŸ”Ž.

Investigation on ☠️ KILLER COORDINATES πŸ“

πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡ 1/…

#Verification πŸ“ΈπŸŽ₯
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐
This missile strike in the east of Kyiv almost completely destroyed a warehouse.

Satellite imagery from @planet shows how the surrounding buildings were not damaged, indicating a precision bombing. 2/…
@planet πŸ‡·πŸ‡Ί The spokesman of the Russian army, Igor Konashenkov, stated that β€œa high-precision long-range aerial weapon had destroyed the production building of a tank factory in Kyiv (...)”. 3/…
@planet πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ Photos on a Ukrainian news site showed three bodies at the site of the impact: gazeta.ua/ru/articles/ki…

Possibly even five civilians died. Ukrainian President Zelensky posthumously awarded five employees of 'the Kyiv armoured factory' a decoration. 4/…
@planet WHY was that warehouse hit❓
HOW was the location of the target determined❓
And WHO is responsible for these deaths❓

Our international team of journalists (@Techjournalisto, @ArchitMeta , @amra_dorjbayar, @AlbertoOlivie13 and @akhmxt ) used #OSINT πŸ‘‡ fo find answers. 5/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt On 7 April, nine days before the attack, the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 broadcast a report on the military repair facility. πŸ“Ί

Ukrainian TV viewers saw how confiscated Russian tanks were repaired and converted to serve the Ukrainian army πŸͺ–. 6/…

reddit.com/r/interestinga…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt The report only showed images of the inside of the warehouse. Therefore it did not immediately seem possible to determine the location. πŸ—ΊοΈπŸ€”

BUT the video was eagerly shared on social media like Reddit (left) and on Russian VKontakte (right). 7/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt And so the images ended up with voluntary Russian OSINT researchers: Rybar, an anonymous #Telegram channel with 500K followers.

Rybar means 'fisherman' and claims to be fishing for 'interesting information' through #OSINT. 🎣 8/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt Two days before the strike Rybar posted it had found the location of the buildingπŸ“: β€œThis location is definitely worth sending several missiles to.” πŸ”₯

We see screenshots of the 1+1-report πŸŸ₯, the location on satellite images 🟦, and even the exact GPS coordinates 🟩. 9/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt This πŸ‘‡ is how they could have found the location starting from the 1+1 report via #OSINT. 10/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt Rybar claimed his part in the deadly attack: "On 14 April, our team located a military vehicle repair shop (...) During the night of 15-16 April, the installation was destroyed. It is perhaps the best confirmation of the practical usefulness of our work." 11/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt The military impact of the rocket attack was limited. Experts call it a β€œpropaganda attack”.

Footage shows that at least three armoured vehicles were present in the building when it was destroyed. The building had only space for a dozen vehicles. 12/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt One of these vehicles was also present when 1+1 went there to shoot the report in tempore non suspecto.

If we compare visual elements in the video after the destruction of the building (incision) with a vehicle from the 1+1 report, they match (πŸŸ₯🟨🟩). 13/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt OSINT has a real impact on the battlefield.

πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Not surprisingly, Ukrainian rules for war journalists are strict. A decree forbids journalists, among other things, to publish "descriptions, images and symbols that identify or could identify military facilities". 14/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt The owner of the warehouse, the Ukrainian military state company Ukroboronprom, also has a responsibility.

The journalist of 1+1 had to obtain permission to film in the warehouse from this man. 15/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt So mistakes were certainly made on the Ukrainian side.

BUT without Rybar's OSINT investigation, the TV report might have slipped past the Russian army. πŸ“

Rybar says it has more than 150 volunteer #OSINT researchers. 16/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt Rybar has published over 150 coordinates, including potential targets as aid collection points in Ukraine.

🚫It seems to violate the terms of service of Telegram, which prohibit β€œpromote violence on publicly viewable Telegram channels”: telegram.org/tos 17/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt Rybar receives donations via crypto-currency to an account number in Moscow. πŸ‡·πŸ‡Ί πŸ€‘

More info on the donations in this infograph by @Techjournalisto πŸ‘‡ 18/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt CONCLUSION: Journalists, civilians and soldiers sharing sensitive info online can be dangerous. ⚠️

An OSINT army on the other side of the front is ready to point out targets. πŸ“

Documenting AND initiating acts of war: it can be done with the same #OSINT techniques. 19/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt This investigation πŸ‘† was TEAM WORK. πŸ€πŸ™

Do me one favor, follow these amazing OSINT investigators: @Techjournalisto, @ArchitMeta , @amra_dorjbayar, @AlbertoOlivie13, @akhmxt and volunteers from @GeoConfirmed. 20/…
@planet @Techjournalisto @ArchitMeta @amra_dorjbayar @AlbertoOlivie13 @akhmxt @GeoConfirmed There is more… πŸ”œ

Tomorrow PART 2⃣ of our investigation in a new 🧡 on this account (@brechtcastel). Stay tuned. 21/…
UPDATE: Someone shares a similar video of another location where Russian captured tanks are stored today.

This 🧡 is posted as a reaction to warn the person who uploaded to NOT share this kind of footage. πŸ‘
This story isn't over. πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡

Read PART TWO of ☠️ KILLER COORDINATES πŸ“ here:

β€’ β€’ β€’

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More from @brechtcastel

Jun 16
We all have seen Ukrainian tractors πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ dragging Russian tanks πŸ‡·πŸ‡Ί.

Where do they go? πŸ€”

We traced the β€œV5” in this #TikTok. It reveals France πŸ‡«πŸ‡· breaking the arms embargo against Russia.

Investigate! πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡ 1/…

#OSINTπŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸ“½οΈ
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐 Image
The TikTok video with this BMD-4, a landing combat vehicle, was shot west of Kyiv.

@sammy7000 from @GeoConfirmed found the location with Google Streetview. πŸ“βœ…

How? πŸ“ΊπŸ‘‡2/…
@sammy7000 @GeoConfirmed The tractor with the β€œV5” drove away from the besieged towns of #Irpin and #Bucha in a southerly direction.

Russian vehicles with a β€œV” entered Ukraine from Belarus and fought around Irpin and Bucha.

You can check on this map from @Cen4infoRes . 3/…

maphub.net/Cen4infoRes/ru…
Read 20 tweets
Jun 16
1/ I'm glad this important 🧡 on the danger of #OSINT is well shared. πŸ” πŸ’ͺ

Before I start a second thread on our investigation I have to thank a few people for production! 😍 πŸ‘‡
2/ @amra_dorjbayar and his team at @vrtnws made our investigation (which took over 1,5 months with an international team) into a 5 min. video.

Impressive work. πŸ“Ί
vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022…
@amra_dorjbayar @vrtnws 3/ @Techjournalisto made some nice infographics of difficult but crucial parts of our investigation like this #geolocation πŸ‘‡ or the #cryptocurrency analysis. πŸ‘Œ

You see how the 1+1 report (above), the sattelite imagery (middle) and old pictures found on Google (below) match. βœ… Image
Read 5 tweets
May 17
"πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ Hamburg shootout between two groups of migrants. Several people received gunshot wounds [...]. There are several deaths."

In a short blurry video we hear gunshots. What do we see? Investigate! πŸ‘‡1/...

#OSINTπŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸ“½οΈ
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐
The tweet above only has little over 1K views, BUT the same video with the same text was uploaded multiple times on Twitter (left), Reddit, Telegram, Facebook (centre) and YouTube (right).

Over 100,000 people saw the images pass by in that context. 2/...
I didn't even try Reverse Image Search this time: the footage was very blurry so matches unlikely. 😟

I did ask German colleague @fiete_stegers to take a look.

He immediately pointed to the number plate of a car in the video πŸŸ₯. 3/...
Read 18 tweets
May 15
WHERE was a photo taken or a video recorded? πŸ€” This quest is called #GeoLocation.

Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's very hard.🀨 But it's always exciting to find the exact spot. πŸ“πŸ₯³

How can you start doing this yourself? πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡1/...

#OSINT πŸ”Ž#GeoLocation 🌍#HowToOSINT 🧐
First you should watch or read a tutorial or 2.

I can recommend this one from @BenDoBrown: or my quest for a tree in Africa: 2/...
@BenDoBrown ⚠️ But stop consulting tutorials in time.

You can easily get impressed by very complicated research methods πŸ‘‡ @nixintel . (Don't use them when you start.)

It is much more important to TRY it yourself. 3/...
nixintel.info/osint/planes-a…
Read 10 tweets
May 13
Had two great #OSINT 🧐 days in πŸ‡³πŸ‡±: gave an interview at Arda πŸŽ₯, met a young talented investigator πŸ₯£ and talked at @VOGIN_IP in Amsterdam πŸ—£οΈ.

Let's celebrate with a #geolocation-challenge! Where did I take this picture? Explain (in detail) how you found the spot! πŸ“πŸ‘‡ Image
Some great thinking and collaboration!

Geolocated!πŸ“βœ…

I'll summarise some breakthroughs in this challenge in the next tweets! 1/...
Read 9 tweets

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