FBI helps Ukraine collect Russia’s war crime evidence

Ukraine is assisted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and American companies in collecting digital evidence of war crimes committed by the Russian forces, such as geolocation and cellphone information, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

“Collection of that data, analysis of that data, working through that data is something the FBI has experience working through,” Alex Kobzanets, an FBI special agent, said at a cybersecurity conference in San Francisco.

He said this work includes looking into cellphone information, forensic analyses of DNA samples and analysis of body parts collected off battlefields.

“The next step is working with national U.S. service providers, and transferring that information … obtaining subscriber information, obtaining geolocation information, where possible,” Kobzanets added.

He also said the U.S. FBI had been helping Ukraine to identify Russian collaborators and spies operating in Ukraine and the Russian forces that operated outside of Kyiv as the invasion was happening.

According to Reuters, this work reflects deepening collaboration between the U.S. and Ukraine on the cyber front, where Russia has been a common adversary for both nations.

Last week, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told U.S. lawmakers that the Russian military had committed more than 80,000 war crimes against civilians in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to Voice of America.