It has been six months since Russia invaded Ukraine, and we have documented, verified and investigated each step of the way as the Kremlin pursuits a senseless war on Ukraine.
On the outset, our Ukraine Witness archive currently sits at more than 11,000 entries of videos and photos, which are categorised, verified and analysed.
This archive is shared with justice, accountability, humanitarian and research groups to support them where it matters.
To build the database, we've been working with the open source community, which really shows the strength in collaboration to create the combined product of the database and map.
A big thanks to @bellingcat, @GeoConfirmed and to all of the analysts who helped along the way ✊
The database and map were initially created to monitor Russian troop buildups along Ukraine's borders. This is the type of content we were verifying back then, lots of military hardware being transported to the border.
We also started to document the creation and expansion of new bases and potential staging areas in multiple locations along the borders of Ukraine, like this one in Belarus.
Post February 24, we started documenting bombings of residential areas, shopping centres and more. Many of which are caught on camera, with clear evidence of indiscriminate shelling and bombing used in civilian areas like this one in Kharkiv.
Schools, hospitals, civilian infrastructure sites and places of worship were not spared by Russia's bombardments on Ukrainian cities. Every morning, more and more scenes like this school in Kharkiv appeared after waves of overnight bombings.
To see the scale of damage to civilian infrastructure, our map was updated to be filterable by category, so specific categories can be displayed. For example, here is all of the verified footage documenting civilian infrastructure damage in Ukraine maphub.net/Cen4infoRes/ru…
On a city-level breakdown, Mariupol was one of the worst affected places for civilian infrastructure damage, largely due to Russia's siege on the city.
We've been using @Maxar and @planet imagery to monitor that huge amount of destruction, from space.
That targeting of infrastructure warranted a deeper dive, where we found a clear systematic pattern of the targeting of educational facilities in Mariupol. info-res.org/post/the-syste…
During the documentation of where places were being targeted, our analysts also discovered the targeting of zoos and wildlife parks across Ukraine, which you can see in this report info-res.org/post/endangere…
The destruction of civilian infrastructure isn't the only thing we've seen from space over the past six months. Our analysts have also been monitoring the expansion and development of graves, specifically in occupied areas, like this one in Kherson.
This monitoring resulted in the identification of several gravesites in Ukraine, some of which had been expanded with thousands of new plots in occupied areas. info-res.org/post/mass-grav…
Many of these events have faced denial and propaganda in the attempt to distort truths, and we have seen a number of ways this has been carried out, such as fake fact checking sites that attempted to debunk truths about Bucha.
We've documented how the Russian Government uses children as tools of propaganda, to justify actions in Ukraine and shows how the Kremlin is using 'diseducation' tactics to influence next generations in Russian-occupied areas.
As the conflict continues, so does the Kremlin influence campaigns, especially in Ukraine's occupied areas. Future work will involve a crucial effort to watch, document and expose Russia's attempts to control these areas and host 'referendums' info-res.org/post/briefing-…
Something we've also noticed and might see more of in the future is the rise of pro-Russian groups participating in propaganda and even on-ground events, such as this group that used open source techniques to provide the coordinates of a bombing in Kyiv. info-res.org/post/killer-co…
Through our diving into these details, and identifying the facts from the murky sea of state-backed narratives, we've been able to work with media to support them in their work - such as our proud collaboration with CNN on the bombings in Kharkiv edition.cnn.com/2022/05/12/wor…
That report identified exactly where cluster munitions were used in Kharkiv and how they were fired from within Russia's borders, but also identified the unit, and commander responsible for those bombings - the same commander that led the bombing campaign of Aleppo in 2016.
We've also shared part of our archive with @AP and @frontlinepbs to assist them in their War Crime Watch: Ukraine project, which has been doing some excellent coverage on the horrors of what has been seen in Ukraine pbs.org/wgbh/frontline…
Our work on debunking the Kremlin's propaganda and documenting information related to potential war crimes was covered in this @VICE documentary
Going forward, our investigations & collaborations continue to reveal grim details of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and we will remain doing this while there is still conflict and propaganda.
To stay up to date with the large volumes of footage that is still coming out of Ukraine, you can use our map (which will soon be redeveloped) to view verified and geolocated information from #EyesOnRussiamaphub.net/Cen4infoRes/ru…
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🚨NEW One year on from the discovery of mass graves, and after extensive investigation, today we can identify the enablers of torture in #Izium, #Ukraine.
2/4 Our report identifies specific units from the Luhansk & Donetsk People’s Republic militias based at or near locations revealed to be torture sites by independent human rights investigators & journalists.
3/4 After 6 months of Russian occupation, Izium was liberated on 10 September 2022. Upon its liberation, several mass graves were found near the city. Ukrainian investigators discovered civilians among the victims in the mass graves, most showing signs of violent deaths.
🚨1/4 Yesterday, an apparent Russian 'double tap' strike occurred in the city of #Pokrovsk. According to the governor of Donetsk Oblast, the first strike occurred in the city centre at 19:15 & the second at 19:52 local time as rescue efforts were underway.🧵
2/4 Pavlo Krylenko reported that the 'double tap' killed 7 (5 civilians; 2 responders) & injured 81 (39 inc 42 first responders). We have verified footage of several wounded civilians being treated, loaded into ambulances, & rescued from the damaged building.
3/4 'Double tap' attacks are a military tactic specifically targeting & killing first responders. The strategy violates international humanitarian law & has been used by Russia in #Kharkiv, #Odesa, and #Kherson.
On Tuesday 27 June a missile strike on a restaurant and hotel complex in central Kramatorsk left 13 people dead and dozens wounded. But a false conspiracy theory was spread on Twitter that the devastation was caused by a British Storm Shadow Missile. 1/16 info-res.org/post/off-cours…
Hours before the deadly attack, a much smaller missile had landed in Kramatorsk. The impact coincided with an aircraft flying overhead, and the launch and impact was reported by multiple local sources.
2/15
The damage from this earlier missile landing was very minor - shattering windows at a petrol station.#CIR geolocated the incident at [48.729968, 37.567753]. Debris from the strike was shared by a local Telegram group and journalists from @radiosvoboda
🧵1/ Nine months ago today, Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, our #EyesOnRussia project has investigated, verified & documented thousands of incidents from the conflict.
Our Monitoring Map has over 6600 entries. It's free for everyone.
2/ The team is made up of investigators and volunteers from around the world, including from the UK, France, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Romania, Ukraine, Canada, the US, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, Kenya, Thailand, Tunisia & more. Below is just a snapshot of their work👇
3/ In April, @hengenahm investigated the Yalivshchyna burial sites, after the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chernihiv. His work was sadly an indication of the growing cost to civilians caught in Putin's war.
1/ CIR has investigated images circulated today of the bullet-ridden car of Kirill Stremousov, who served the Russian occupation of Kherson as deputy governor until his death last week. Our investigators have ruled out claims that he was killed by gunfire. Thread by @gfusfus ⬇️
@gfusfus 2/ Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-assigned deputy governor of Kherson Oblast died in a car crash on November 9, 2022. Today, a week after the crash, images emerged on social media, showing bullet holes on the right side of the vehicle.
@gfusfus 3/ The earliest reports and footage from the scene started appearing in the late afternoon that day.
2/ Available open-source evidence points to multiple potential launch locations, in part due to significant Russian activity before and after the Kramatorsk attack.
Data gathered from the morning of the strike indicates that several Russian missile instalments were active.
3/ However, there is one clear site that shows both smoke from where the launch occurred on 8 April on satellite imagery, & also matches footage filmed of missile launches: it's from a site next to an ash pond at the Zuhres power station, near the village of Shakhtne