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Sources of information and updates on war in Ukraine

Update: Thank you everybody for the incoming suggestions and links. In particular, special thanks to “Astrid Nightroad”. Everyone, please keep your valuable input coming!

It’s hard to focus on any other topic right now, in the face of full scale military aggression, orchestrated by the Russian dictator and his kleptocracy regime against a sovereign European country, Ukraine.

Without doubt, this conflict will receive unprecedented social media coverage and reporting – but it will also have a huge amount of disinformation and propaganda. That’s why it’s necessary to have good sources and rely on trustworthy reports.

Apart from the military aggression, the Russians are waging psychological warfare and leveraging deliberate disinformation. The aim is to spread panic, undermine morale and convince Ukrainians and the rest of the world that resistance is pointless and that they should surrender.

Examples of such efforts include Russian troll accounts spreading fake news, fake updates, fake images and videos – often by using old content of this type from previous conflicts elsewhere. Some of this is very easy to debunk by reverse searching images – but the propagandists know that most people won’t go to that effort.

There are also people without a clear agenda, posting warfare clips that came from other parts of the world, but also from movies, video games, military training exercises and so on. Sharing that kind of content is equally unhelpful and confusing – so be careful when reposting it. Sometimes the difference between an unfunny prank and premeditated action will be hard to detect.

What’s also unhelpful and even dangerous to Ukrainian soldiers is sharing movements of their troops and their locations on social media. Often, English speaking users cannot tell the difference between the uniforms and equipment of the Ukrainian and Russian armies. Remember that blindly sharing or attempting to geolocate random content without knowing what exactly you are doing can lead to even more tragedy and people losing lives.

So here is a list – let’s say it’s going to be work in progress – of reliable sources of information on war in Ukraine.

Official Ukrainian government sources

Maps & geolocation sources

Journalists and media

Certainly not an exhaustive list, as there are many more individuals and institutions that provide reliable, evidence-based reporting. List composed in no particular order – and likely to be added to.

Individuals and researchers

Once again, this is not a full list and really only a small fraction of accounts supplying valuable information and updates. These people are not directly linked to news outlets:

Telegram accounts

An important word of warning here: Telegram is one the main tools of Russian disinformation efforts, so pay particular attention to what content and how it’s shared there:

Dissidents and Russian opposition

Miscellaneous other sources & materials

While not immediately related to what is currently happening in Ukraine, these sources can be used to help understand the context better.

Donations and charities

Below there are some examples of legitimate charities and support organisations in Ukraine. Note that the war in Ukraine theme is already being exploited by various scammers, fake websites, fraudulent fundraiser campaigns and more. Always vet the recipient before sending any money!

Ad hoc other content

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1 thought on “Sources of information and updates on war in Ukraine”

  1. Aetukuri Srinath
    Reply

    Very well consolidated useful information 👌.
    Thanks for putting effort and sharing these !!

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