The Centre for Information Resilience’s “Eyes on Russia” Project maps, documents and verifies significant incidents related to Russian aggression toward Ukraine.
CIR investigators collate, geolocate, and verify information appearing on social media and claims made by parties to the conflict. Our latest findings can always be found on this Twitter thread.
You can download the report below.
Report 9 Summary
Since 18 May, CIR has observed ongoing efforts by the Russian military to mount its offensive on East Ukraine. In particular, the Kremlin has focused its efforts on the city of Popasna, as forces seek to capture Severodonetsk, in the Luhansk region.
As part of Russian attacks across Ukraine, and following a prolonged siege on the city of Mariupol, approximately 200 bodies were discovered in the basement of a residential building.
CIR has recently published a report that details the ongoing targeting of schools in Russian attacks on Mariupol. The report covers 36 schools and uses open-source methods to verify their damage. The full report can be accessed here.
In the information sphere, CIR has noted several developments:
On 28 May, documents surfaced of instructions to Russian forces on how to engage with the Ukrainian population. Crucially, Russian soldiers are ordered to promote disinformation narratives emanating from the Kremlin and propagate the narrative that Russia is seeking to protect Ukrainians.
On 20 May, narratives emerged surrounding the claim that the recent outbreak of monkeypox is due to U.S biolabs in Ukraine. This narrative reinforces previous claims by the Kremlin about the use of biolabs in Ukraine to circulate Covid-19 and target Russia.
On 12 May, Russian news network TASS claimed that Ukraine is re-writing history books. Several social media accounts amplified this claim, in a bid to further bolster the Kremlin’s assertion that the Ukrainian government is anti-Russian.
More analysis and a summary of troop movements can be read in the full report, above.