Thread by @brechtcastel

11.8 M people have seen this video on #TikTok. 😲

A quiet scene at a beach 🏖️ with a huge explosion in the background. 🔥

What do we see? Investigate! 🧵👇 1/...

#OSINT🔎
#Verification 📽️
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐

🔊The woman filming curses while a man seems to say "he almost choked".

The caption of the video is добро пожаловать в Бердянск, meaning "Welcome to Berdyansk".

Berdyansk is a port city in Ukraine. 🇺🇦

You can watch the video here: tiktok.com/@thdsml/video/…

2/...

The video raises speculation.

According to some YouTube users, the explosion is the work of Ukrainian resistance fighters. 🪖

A Facebook post suggests that the video shows a "Russian military cargo ship being hit by Ukrainians". 🚢

What's true? 🤔 3/...

Berdyansk was taken by the Russian army on 27 February.

In the video we see no people running away or taking cover. Nor does it show - when we look in slowmotion - a bomb or projectile causing the explosion.

In a Ukrainian counterattack, we would expect that. 4/...

It is noteworthy that on 2 June more such videos emerged. 📽️📽️

We find 7⃣ different videos of explosions in Berdyansk on #TikTok and #Telegram of the same day. ⏲️✔️ 5/...

Two of these videos are filmed from the same beach. 🏖️✅

If we compare them, we can see from the shape of the smoke 🟥 and the fireball 🟨 that it is the same explosion in these two videos, but filmed from a different angle. 6/...

However, these videos 👆, although posted on the same day, do NOT show the same explosion as in the viral video (right).

The shape of the fireball and smoke is clearly different 🟩. 7/...

So there were at least two explosions in the port of Berdyansk that day.

Another video, uploaded on Telegram on 2 June, shows a plume of smoke behind an apartment building in the background. 8/...

In this video, it is not clear where the plume of smoke is coming from.

⬛️We compare the buildings in the foreground of the video (right), with roofs in satellite images from Berdyansk from Google Earth (left). ✅📍9/...

🟪We do the same with the apartment buildings in the background of the video.

Again, the satellite images from Google Earth (left) correspond to the skyline in the video (right).✅📍 10/...

We now connect two points in the foreground ⬛️ and background 🟪 with a plumb line 🟡 on the satellite images (left) and the video (right).

➡️Because it is in line, we can now determine the location from which the smoke rises 🔴 : the port of Berdyansk again.📍✅ 11/...

In short, on 2 June, not one but SEVERAL explosions took place.

One of these explosions was filmed very closely.

We compare visual elements in this video with drone images of the port (cropping): a wall 🟥, two cranes 🟩 and a pole 🟨 match. 12/...

It would be a coincidence if the people in the harbour were just nearby and started filming at the right moment. 🤔

In the picture, however, we can see a smartphone filming and a video camera being set up 🟪. 13/...

This suggests 👆 that these people knew that there were going to be (multiple) explosions in the harbour.

It was no surprise at all. 14/...

According to @CovertShores there was "no sign of relevant ships at the port" on June 2. 15/...

https://twitter.com/CovertShores/status/1532390293022154755

@CovertShores On 24 March, however, it did.

On this day, 🇺🇦 Ukrainian forces destroyed a 🇷🇺 Russian ship docked in the port of Berdyansk.

This can be seen in various images in the following investigation by the British TV channel @SkyNews. 👇16/...

@CovertShores @SkyNews That ship fire was also visible on the Global Fire Map of the American space agency NASA on 24 March (left): firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#t:adv;d:2…

On 2 June, however, no fire was detected (right) by that monitoring tool. ❌ 17/...

@CovertShores @SkyNews (Want to use this Global Fire Map yourself for investigations? Check out this GREAT new tutorial from @BenDoBrown. 👇) 18/...

https://twitter.com/BenDoBrown/status/1538820130012024832

@CovertShores @SkyNews @BenDoBrown On Telegram we find the channel of the "Russian city administration" of the occupied Ukrainian city of Berdyansk.

On 2 June at 13h28, they spread the following message, in which they warn of demining in the port. 19/...

@CovertShores @SkyNews @BenDoBrown On 3 June, the 🇺🇦 army reported that the Russian army was carrying out 'no active hostilities' in the Zaporizhzhya, in which Berdyansk is located.

They also didn't report about their own military actions there in that period. So, no statement on the explosions. 20/...

@CovertShores @SkyNews @BenDoBrown CONCLUSION: Several social media users think the video on TikTok it is an attack by Ukrainian resistance fighters. That is not true. ❌

Everything indicates that the explosion was part of a demining operation by the Russian army. 21/...

@CovertShores @SkyNews @BenDoBrown What have we learned? 👩‍🏫

1) @Lotte_Lambrecht is a great #OSINT investigator (we worked together on this): follow her! 🦾
2) Geolocating fore- and background can help you find the location. 📍📏
3) Global Fire Map is a great monitoring tool for a 🔥topic. 🔎 22/...

@CovertShores @SkyNews @BenDoBrown @Lotte_Lambrecht You can read our full article with all sources used here (@Knack) for FREE. 👇23/24

knack.be/factcheck/fact…

@CovertShores @SkyNews @BenDoBrown @Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Did you learn something from this #OSINT for #FactChecking?

Follow me (@brechtcastel) and check out my channel on #YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCMBPt… 🙏

Older 🧵🧵underneath this tweet:

https://twitter.com/brechtcastel/status/1390688405416198145

24/END