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OSINT: Ukraine Edition
robertkroupa.substack.com

OSINT: Ukraine Edition

Robert Kroupa
Mar 19
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OSINT: Ukraine Edition
robertkroupa.substack.com

Recently, I wrote a (Substack) piece about the emerging field of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT). With all the reports coming out of the conflict in Ukraine, though, I have decided to continue my reporting on the topic. As with before, the Bellingcat group (founded by Eliot Higgins) is leading the charge, and becoming increasingly recognized for their work.

Twitter avatar for @60Minutes60 Minutes @60Minutes
Ukraine is the most documented war in history, and Bellingcat is helping ensure the real story of what is happening on the ground is being told. Sunday, Scott Pelley speaks with Bellingcat’s leaders and learns how it has tried to hold Russia accountable.
cbsn.ws/3MdUtBX

May 13th 2022

744 Retweets2,597 Likes
Twitter avatar for @EliotHigginsEliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
From me and Chris Traux - The whole world is watching: Russians' war crimes will be documented. And prosecuted.
usatoday.com/story/opinion/… via @USATODAYThe whole world is watching: Russians’ war crimes will be documented. And prosecuted.The era of anonymity in war crimes is over. With technology, we can document and hold Russia accountable for war crimes in Ukraine.usatoday.com

April 7th 2022

194 Retweets726 Likes

Even the famous journal Scientific American has recently taken note of this exciting field.

Twitter avatar for @sciamScientific American @sciam
How Investigators Use Online Evidence to Expose Possible War Crimes
How Bellingcat Investigators Verified the Brutal Use of Cluster Munitions in UkraineResearchers at the investigative collective scour the Internet to expose possible war crimesbit.ly

March 18th 2022

27 Retweets59 Likes

In the article, lead Bellingcat researcher Johanna Wild notes:

At Bellingcat, we use the term “open-source research.” We understand this to mean investigative research of all accessible online sources. This includes images, videos or conversations in social networks. We also evaluate satellite images or various databases on the Web. So we don’t work like traditional journalists who conduct interviews or get a picture on-site. Most of the time, we sit in front of the screen in very different countries. Our core team now consists of almost 30 people. It’s quite small, but we work very intensively with quite a few volunteers who help us with the research. Without the help of the online community, we could do much less. That’s why we offer workshops to train more and more people in open-source research.

Twitter avatar for @bellingcatBellingcat @bellingcat
The Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map is a crowdsourced effort by @Cen4infoRes and the wider open source community to map, document and verify significant incidents during the conflict in Ukraine. @BenDoBrown explains how it works
Follow the Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map - bellingcatThe Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map is an open source effort to track unfolding events in the conflict in Ukraine.bellingcat.com

February 27th 2022

891 Retweets1,629 Likes
Twitter avatar for @bellingcatBellingcat @bellingcat
Bellingcat is documenting incidents of potential disinformation arising on the frontlines between Russia and Ukraine:
Documenting and Debunking Dubious Footage from Ukraine’s Frontlines - bellingcatA number of questionable videos suggesting provocations in eastern Ukraine have appeared online. Bellingcat is looking to track and analyse them.bellingcat.com

February 23rd 2022

1,543 Retweets3,044 Likes

One name that has been vitally important in helping to clear the “fog of war” is Christo Grozev.

Grozev

Twitter avatar for @bellingcatBellingcat @bellingcat
Bellingcat's @christogrozev joins @amanpour to discuss the conflict in Ukraine and the work of Bellingcat on accountability
Tracking evidence of egregious civilian harm in Ukraine - CNN VideoAs lead Russia investigator for Bellingcat, Christo Grozev uses open source digital tools to document war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraineedition.cnn.com

March 22nd 2022

49 Retweets178 Likes

Grozev, the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, is a Bulgarian investigative journalist and media expert. His investigations into the identity of the suspects in the 2018 Novichok agent poisoning in the UK earned him and his team the European Press Prize for Investigative Journalism. Additionally, he authored investigations identifying the two senior Russian officers linked to the downing of Malaysia Airline Flight 17, and into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny in 2020. Since the Ukraine invasion began, Grozev has been very active on Twitter:

Twitter avatar for @christogrozevChristo Grozev @christogrozev
In the event you are not angry enough, do read this excellent comparison between Russia's purposeful attacks on civilians - and their ineptly insolent whitewashing attempts - first in Syria and now in Ukraine. From @EliotHiggins:
Subscribe to read | Financial TimesNews, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publicationft.com

March 19th 2022

1,031 Retweets2,942 Likes

The article cited above is written by Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat. He states:

For those of us who have spent the past decade closely watching the conflict in Syria, the Russian invasion of Ukraine brings with it a dreadful familiarity. Much of what has unfolded over the last three weeks has direct parallels that are hard to miss. Russia’s attempts to frame its military action as targeting “nationalists” while it bombs hospitals and terrorises civilians with cluster munitions is familiar to anyone who watched their actions after they entered the Syrian conflict in 2015. Rather than bombing Isis, the Russian air force targeted opposition-controlled areas, indiscriminately attacking not only military targets, but hospitals and bakeries.

Twitter avatar for @christogrozevChristo Grozev @christogrozev
Very good reconstruction on Russia's intentional attack on Mariapul's children's hospital and subsequent lies, from @CNN
Anatomy of a hospital attack: What happened in MariupolMultiple Ukrainian medical facilities have been hit by Russian forces. CNN examines how a strike on a maternity hospital unfolded.edition.cnn.com

March 20th 2022

488 Retweets1,173 Likes
Twitter avatar for @christogrozevChristo Grozev @christogrozev
As I announced yesterday during the testimony at US Congress's FA subcommittee hearing on war crimes, @bellingcat has just launched a comprehensive tracking website logging each significant incident of civilian harm during Russia's invasion of Ukraine:
Hospitals Bombed and Apartments Destroyed: Mapping Incidents of Civilian Harm in Ukraine - bellingcatBellingcat is mapping incidents that appear to have led to civilian harm and damaged civilian infrastructure in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.bellingcat.com

March 17th 2022

2,102 Retweets6,367 Likes

The article linked to in the above Tweet contains a unique interactive database created by Grozev/Bellingcat that allows the reader to view the details of various attacks by time and location.

Christiaan Triebert, a journalist/researcher at the New York Times, who I profiled in my last article, has also been carefully documenting and analyzing the conflict.

Twitter avatar for @trbrtcChristiaan Triebert @trbrtc
We analyzed dozens of battlefield radio transmissions between Russian forces in Ukraine during the initial invasion of Makariv, a town outside Kyiv. They reveal an army struggling with logistical problems and communication failures:
Video: Under Fire, Out of Fuel, No Air Support: What Intercepted Russian Radio Chatter RevealsThe Times’s Visual Investigations team analyzed dozens of battlefield radio transmissions between Russian forces during an initial invasion of the town of Makariv, outside Kyiv. They reveal an army struggling with logistical problems and communication failures.nytimes.com

March 23rd 2022

179 Retweets367 Likes

The most impressive report that I have seen yet was not from Bellingcat, though. It was from the team at Britain-based Financial Times.

Twitter avatar for @jburnmurdochJohn Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch
If you read one piece on Russia/Ukraine today, make it this superb immersive visual explainer on Russia's military missteps and the determined Ukrainian resistance. Features maps, video footage and a wealth of expert analysis. Oh, and it's free to read
How Russia’s mistakes and Ukrainian resistance altered Putin’s warMoscow’s initial hopes of lightning-fast victory foundered in face of fierce opposition and its own shortcomingsig.ft.com

March 18th 2022

1,013 Retweets2,828 Likes

The initial failures have ushered in a new phase of the conflict characterised by heavy bombardments of densely populated areas such as Kharkiv and Mariupol — a tactic Russia used previously in Chechnya and Syria. Ukrainian civilians have borne the brunt of these assaults.

Along with informative writing, the article also contains maps and so-called “visual investigations”, as shown by the above screenshot.

Finally, world renowned researchers are not the only ones informing us about the attack. Amateur OSINT researchers, including college students, have also played an important role.

Twitter avatar for @OnPointRadioOn Point @OnPointRadio
Today, we discuss what the unprecedented number of open source intelligence is revealing about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. @jsrailton and @AndreiSoldatov join us.
How open source intelligence is shaping the Russia-Ukraine warThere’s an unprecedented number of intercepted audio coming out of the Russia-Ukraine war. How is it changing what’s happening in Ukraine?wbur.fm

April 11th 2022

27 Retweets68 Likes
Twitter avatar for @rosemaryCNNRosemary Church @rosemaryCNN
Russia's war on #Ukraine turns ordinary Twitter users into Twitter sleuths - verifying video of bombed civilian targets & analyzing social media witness reports. I ask @jsrailton - Is this the changing face of war where ordinary ppl help hold #Russia accountable for war crimes?

March 29th 2022

25 Retweets116 Likes
Twitter avatar for @giselillaGisela Pérez de Acha @giselilla
How Open-Source Intelligence Is Helping Clear The Fog Of War In Ukraine
buzzfeednews.com/article/petera… by @paldhousHow Open-Source Intelligence Is Helping Clear The Fog Of War In UkraineFrom high-resolution satellite images to TikTok videos, governments no longer control information from the front lines.buzzfeednews.com

March 3rd 2022

2 Retweets8 Likes
Twitter avatar for @leomschwartzLeo Schwartz @leomschwartz
Behind the unprecedented flood of information about Ukraine is a sprawling network of amateur, often anonymous researchers, ranging from college sophomores to 9-5 IT workers. For @restofworld, I dove into the world of hobbyist open-source intelligence:
Amateur open-source researchers went viral unpacking the war in UkraineFrom college sophomores to 9-to-5 IT workers, hobbyist OSINT accounts are reconstructing events on the ground.restofworld.org

March 7th 2022

584 Retweets1,793 Likes

Under the pseudonym Intel Crab, University of Alabama sophomore Justin Peden has become an unlikely source of information about the unfolding Ukraine-Russia war. From his dorm room, the 20-year-old sifts through satellite images, TikTok videos, and security feeds, sharing findings like troop movements and aircraft models with more than 220,000 followers on Twitter. Peden said that his posts have reached 20 million people and his follower count has increased by over 50,000 people over the past month, according to his Twitter analytics.

Twitter avatar for @IntelCrabThe Intel Crab 🇺🇦 @IntelCrab
Satellite data (via @sentinel_hub) from the 14th of March, 2022 showcases numerous residential targets - including a single family dwelling - on fire in eastern #Mariupol. Two large apartment complexes were also identified.
Image

March 15th 2022

73 Retweets144 Likes

“There will always be a fog of war, but I think it is the thinnest veil of war we’ve ever had,” Peden said, after being taken aback by the increased attention accounts like his have received over the last couple of weeks. “It’s surprising to me because it’s been, for the longest time, so niche on Twitter and the internet as a whole,” he told Rest of World.

Twitter avatar for @Cen4infoResCentre for Information Resilience @Cen4infoRes
Over the past two months we have mapped more than 1600 videos & photos documenting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We are starting this new thread to focus on the geolocation of Russian firing positions causing destruction in Ukraine. Our map:
maphub.net/Cen4infoRes/ru…
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March 18th 2022

319 Retweets679 Likes
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