US starts new program to collect, analyse evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

As the Russian Federation has been blamed for perpetrating war crimes in the Ukrainian territories, the United States has decided to launch a new program to gather evidence of Russian war crimes. On Tuesday, the US State Department announced the initiation of a new program to gather and analyse evidence of Russian war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine. State Department spokesman Ned Price stated that since President Putin launched his illegal war against Ukraine, the international community has witnessed the horrendous crimes committed by Russian troops. He further said that they are collaborating with American academia and the commercial sector to find justice and evidence of large-scale atrocities now and in the future.

The program is called Conflict Observatory, which will verify and disseminate open source proof of Russian forces' atrocities in Ukraine. The Conflict Observatory will evaluate and archive publicly and commercially available data, including satellite photos, according to media reports. The Conflict Observatory's documentation will be made public on the website in order to counter Russian disinformation efforts and shine a light on the atrocities.

The initiative being developed with $6 million initial investment

This program is being developed with a $6 million initial investment, with future financing coming from the European Initiative for Democratic Sustainability (EDRI). The White House said in March that EDRI would receive at least $ 320 million to help improve democratic resilience, combat corruption and promote human rights in Ukraine and the region. The Conflict Observatory is a collaboration between Esri, a leading provider of geographic information systems, Yale University's Humanities Research Laboratory, the Smithsonian's Cultural Rescue Initiative and PlanetScape Ai, according to media reports.

Conflict Observatory will provide analyses of Russian war crimes on its official website

The official website of the Conflict Observatory will host the reports and analyses of Russian war crimes. Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced on Tuesday that he has dispatched a team of 42 investigators, forensic experts and support personnel to Ukraine to look into war crimes and crimes against humanity. The US State Department stated that no government can avoid responsibility for atrocities committed, no matter how big or theoretically strong it is or what types of weaponry it has in its arsenal.

Image: AP