🟢 Ongoing 2025

Mapping Incidents of Civilian Harm in Ukraine

Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, Bellingcat and its Volunteer Community members have been mapping incidents of civilian harm, with nearly than 2,500 cases geolocated since February, 2022 to date (last updated April, 2025). As our efforts continue, you can explore the interactive TimeMap below or click here to read more about it in this publication.

Bellingcat’s New Online Investigations Toolkit

The Online Investigations Toolkit is designed to assist researchers in discovering tools across various categories, such as satellite imagery, maps, social media, transportation, and archiving. This toolkit is truly a resource built by the community, for the community, with many of our members actively contributing to its development! Learn more here.

Contributing to Investigative Tech and Open Source Tools

Our tech-curious members will receive invitations to join both in-person and online hackathons hosted by Bellingcat. They'll have the opportunity to take an active role in shaping new investigative tech tools and contribute to upcoming Open Source projects.

🟤 Completed 2023

Russia’s Ghost Ships and the Evolution of a Grain Smuggling Operation

Collaborative research led by Bellingcat, Scripps News, and Lloyd’s List used AIS data and satellite imagery to unveil a clandestine operation in which Russian vessels like the Mikhail Nenashev transported grain from occupied eastern Ukraine. This investigation exposes persistent attempts to mask the source of grain exports from sanctioned areas. The video report was nominated for CIR Open Source Film Awards! Learn more here.

As Azerbaijan Consolidates Control, Armenians Flee Nagorno-Karabakh

Newly obtained satellite images show the mass exodus of people from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where fears of the ethnic cleansing of Armenians have escalated since Azerbaijani forces launched an offensive there last week. Other open source data collected by Bellingcat and our community confirms ongoing Azerbaijani military presence in communities ethnic Armenians have fled from. Read more here.

Chaos and Crisis as Azerbaijan Attacks Nagorno-Karabakh

Since the start of Azerbaijan’s latest offensive, Bellingcat and our community have been monitoring open source information about the humanitarian consequences — in particular attacks on the territory’s civilian infrastructure and the movement of its ethnic Armenian population. Read more here.

Saunas and Swastikas: Finland’s Summertime neo-Nazi Meet-Up

Through collaborative investigation, supported by our Volunteer Community and public Discord server members, we uncovered the locations of the 2022 and 2023 "White Boy Summer Fest," an annual event organised by far-right extremists. Learn more here.

More than Mountaineering: Using PeakVisor for Geolocation

Our member and former Bellingcat Tech Fellow, Sophie Tedling, is the instigator of the PeakVisor Open Source Investigative (POPSI) project. Originally developed as an app to help mountaineers and hikers orient, navigate, and share geographic information on their smartphones, PeakVisor has come to play a growing role in open source investigations. Both our community and staff members have also contributed to this report.

Mapping the Aftermath of the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Border Clashes

To help assess the impact of these events on civilians, Bellingcat has created an interactive map showing apparent changes to buildings after the clashes, identifying civilian infrastructure and private property that was likely impacted. You can read more about it in this publication.

Grain Trail: Tracking Russia's Ghost Ships with Satellite Imagery

The main grain terminal at the Port of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea has fallen quiet in recent years – at least according to ship monitoring services. Automated Identification Systems (AIS) tracking data, which provides open source information on the positioning and movement of ships, shows few vessels visiting the Avlita grain terminal since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2015. Read more here.

Russia’s Assault on Daily Life in Ukraine

Russia’s destruction of residential buildings, hospitals, schools  and power infrastructure have been widely reported. As Bellingcat’s project to map and log incidents of civilian harm in Ukraine shows, many other facets of civilian life have also been attacked. They are the bus stops where people wait at the start of a working day, the playgrounds where they take their children and the post offices where mail parcels and letters are processed. Open source imagery – videos and photos from Ukraine, collected and verified by our community – tell the story of these key amenities and the citizens killed while using them. Read more here.

A Year into Russia’s Invasion, Survival in Ukraine is Still “Like a Lottery Ticket”

We have examined key cases of civilian harm over the past year – from the Bucha massacre to Russia’s missile strike on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk and a railway station in Kramatorsk. You’ll hear from three Ukrainian journalists on the ground who have covered such events, as well as a legal scholar who explains how Russia’s leadership could be prosecuted for the crime of aggression under international law. Learn more here.