Post Verified: eyewitness videos
By Washington Post Staff
Updated Feb. 24 at 8:40 p.m.Originally published May 9, 2022
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On Feb. 24, as Russian forces rolled into Ukraine and missiles began to strike Kyiv, civilians picked up their phones and pressed record. For eight months, they have documented the war, allowing the world to witness the conflict in Ukraine through the eyes of its people.
New videos emerge each day, taken by local residents, soldiers and public officials. They show the trails of rockets streaming through the sky and the smoldering ruins of towns. Footage has shown slain civilians, some bearing signs of torture, lying in neighborhood streets or unearthed from mass graves.
A growing body of visual evidence has become instrumental for war crimes prosecutors, while also propelling global outrage against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
Video location
Feb 24, 2022
Feb 24, 2022
Jan 28, 2022
The Washington Post’s visual forensics team has been verifying and cataloguing videos since the start of the invasion. This work is searchable in a database that continues to be updated, though at a slower pace than in the first months of the war, with the emphasis more recently on key events. The videos have been uploaded in raw format; graphic content is clearly marked.
Amid the onslaught of death and rubble in this database, certain trends are apparent:
- Little has been spared. Houses, apartment buildings and playgrounds have been destroyed across Ukraine.
See videos of residential areas
- Patients seeking care became victims of war. A maternity hospital, a cancer ward and a children’s dental clinic are among hundreds of health facilities that have been struck.
See videos of medical facilities
- Bombardments are routine. Security cameras and citizens filming from their windows have captured moments when strikes reduce structures to rubble.
See videos of military strikes
- Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and officials in Kyiv warn of a difficult winter ahead.
See infrastructure attacks
- Ukrainian soldiers have recorded their successes — from the battles that saved the capital in the spring to the recent counteroffensive that has forced Russia to retreat in parts of the east and south.
See counteroffensives
If you’re in Ukraine and have footage you recorded of what is going on, please send it to us on Telegram at 202-580-1002. The Post will continue to verify videos of the Russian invasion.
Methodology
A team of reporters at The Washington Post has been monitoring and verifying videos of the war since Feb. 24. To do that, reporters geolocate the video by cross-referencing distinctive landmarks in the footage with reliable source material such as satellite imagery or Google Earth street view. Next, reporters investigate when the video was recorded, checking for metadata and time stamps. Other visuals, official statements, eyewitness testimony and spoken audio provide context that can help corroborate videos. Reporters also review the uploader’s account and try to find the original source for the video. The source links in this database are where reporters discovered the video online, but are not always the original source. Weapons and military equipment can be clues as to what transpired; reporters consult with military experts on that. Some videos in this database were also corroborated by news verification groups such as Storyful or open-source researchers, but all have been independently confirmed by The Post.
Post reporters also screen for fake videos by examining whether there are jump cuts, interrupted audio, or visuals and audio that don’t match. We also run a reverse-image search and look for other posts on the same topic to make sure it is not an old video — perhaps even from a different conflict — that is recirculating.
Verification takes rigorous reporting, fact-checking and collaboration across the newsroom. The Post publishes only verified videos.
Credits
Visual forensics reporting by Sarah Cahlan, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Meg Kelly, Atthar Mirza, Elyse Samuels, Samuel Oakford, Jon Swaine, Razzan Nakhlawi, Jonathan Baran, Joy Sharon Yi, JM Rieger, Jason Aldag, Karly Domb Sadof, Dalton Bennett, Louisa Loveluck, Monica Rodman and Adriana Usero. Design and development by Shikha Subramaniam, Leo Dominguez, Gabriel Florit, Atthar Mirza, Joe Fox and Jason Bernert. Graphics by Dylan Moriarty. Writing by Elyse Samuels, Ruby Mellen, Samuel Oakford, Sarah Cahlan and Meg Kelly.
Editing by Matt Callahan, Reem Akkad, Nadine Ajaka and Ann Gerhart. Copy editing by Vanessa Larson.
