Ukraine II: Tracking the Ravages of War

In the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city of Mariupol was exposed to ferocious attacks.

Our apartment block was shelled by tanks.

There were old men, women and children
in the basement.

The artillery and fires killed many civilians.
How did I manage to survive? I'm not sure.

May, 2022.

Mariupol was completely taken over by the Russian Army.

What exactly was going on inside the occupied city?

We worked with experts to find clues from satellite images.

I'm sure the fight for survival in Mariupol
is continuing for the residents who remain.

Our dilemma is that
we can't easily get information.

We examined more than 200 satellite images of Mariupol.

They clearly show the reality of violent attacks targeting civilians.

The city is suffering indiscriminate attacks.

Their aim is to destroy everything
to make the residents lose their will to fight.

We ran out of water and food,
and something terrible was about to begin.

I decided to get out
whatever it might lead to.

Why should I throw everything away and leave?

Where were all those who fled from Mariupol heading?

In this edition of Digital Eye, using the latest digital technology, we unveil the truth buried in the ravages of war.

Mariupol before the invasion.

Facing the Sea of Azov, it was a prosperous industrial city.

Home to more than 400,000 people, it was a place full of vitality.

This is where I was born.
It's the place that made me!

The symbol of Mariupol was the theater standing in the heart of the city.

But the conflict has drastically changed its appearance.

The number of Mariupol residents killed is still unclear.

We decided to analyze the satellite data with Professors Watanave Hidenori and Furuhashi Taichi.

We focused on comparing images of Mariupol cemeteries.

Green indicates grassy areas.
When dug up, the color changes to brown.

It appeared that the soil had been dug up over an extensive area.

Continuing our investigation, we found a video released in June.

It showed grave markers erected over a large area.

And one scene provides a clue confirming the video was filmed in Mariupol.

In the distance there's a rectangular building flanked by o chimneys.

A search of the satellite images of the city led us to a factory.

The features and position of the factory and chimneys perfectly match the video footage.

This proves it was filmed at a cemetery in the western part of the city.

So far, three large cemeteries in Mariupol have been identified using the satellite images.

Since March, when the battle intensified, all three cemeteries have continued to expand.

From the area per grave, we can estimate the number of people buried there.

The expanded areas alone were found to be sufficient size for 7,000 graves.

It's truly an unimaginable situation.

It's hard to believe
this is happening in the 21st century.

But this is the reality.

I was so scared.

Desperate to survive, many residents had no option but to flee their city.

Where were they all heading?

We used cell phone location data to track and visualize the flow of evacuees from Mariupol.

This is the situation before the invasion.

The more red indicated, the greater the flow of people.

Right after the invasion started on February 24th, there was a surge of people moving west.

Then, from mid-March, the flow largely disappeared.

Why did this happen?

Several residents explained what was going on at the time.

Food and water were running out.
Feeling we couldn't last a week, we decided to evacuate to the west.
However, the fighting started on that route.

The head of a support group engaged in rescue operations says that evacuation routes from Mariupol to western Ukraine were basically closed at that time.

To get to Mariupol you have to pass 20 checkpoints, military checkpoints.

Buses and large trucks with humanitarian which were moved to but has not been let in.

The only option left for the residents was to evacuate to the Russian-controlled areas.

Heading towards Russia was scary,
but nothing was scarier than staying in Mariupol.

There was no shelling on the road to Russia.

So we got on a bus heading that way.

Many people rushed to the evacuation buses prepared by Russia.

But what awaited them was a tense interrogation by armed soldiers.

I was stripped completely.

They wanted to inspect my hands for battle scars
and calluses, so I took off my bracelet.

I tried to hand it over to my girlfriend,
but the soldiers confiscated it.

We were surrounded by many soldiers with guns,
so I decided it was not a good idea to resist.

Denis is another Mariupol resident boarded a bus provided by Russia.

But for the next nine days, he was moved and detained repeatedly without freedom.

We were treated like livestock. It was a totally
inhumane and humiliating experience.

I guess they wanted to let us know
how powerless we were.

Repeated interrogations and long-term detentions...

What is this all about?

In August, a U.S. research institute published a report titled "System of Filtration."

It dealt with detention operations designed to 'filter' people in the Russian-occupied regions.

It revealed details of the systematic 'filtration' process being planned and conducted by Russia.

Nathaniel Raymond headed the team that produced the report at Yale University.

Raymond is an expert on human rights issues in conflict zones.

He's investigated many human rights violations, including those committed at Guantanamo Bay Detention facility and Abu Ghraib prison.

Russia has a distinct and specific history of using filtration in areas they occupy in a brutal and indiscriminate way.

The obvious responsibility we had was to follow where we thought the largest probability of abuses occurring would be.

That is the filtration system.

Raymond geolocated 21 filtration facilities set up by Russia.

One of them is at Bezimenne, a village 30 kilometers east of Mariupol.

Numerous reports had surfaced on the Internet that filtration was taking place there.

One example was this video filmed in March.

We can see lines of tents and people who appear to be evacuees.

Raymond's team compared and analyzed satellite images of Bezimenne.

In mid-March, tents suddenly appeared in the village square.

Their color and layout matched the video images.

Moreover, collation of the results from several sources confirmed that filtration was taking place.

We see vehicles lined up.

People were being filtered coming out of the city.

There are also buses, which suggests that people are being brought to this location en masse.

The Russian filtration system involves the registration of people, followed by interrogation and, in many cases, prolonged holding during investigation.

In Bezimenne, a school 600 meters from the village square was used to hold evacuees.

This video was secretly filmed at the school.

It smells worse than a public toilet.

The video shows a large number of people who were forced to stay there.

350 people are held here with
just one washbasin and the toilets are outside.

Denis was forced to stay at this facility for six days.

There were very few beds, so we had to
sleep on chairs, desks, or the floor.

Many people got food poisoning
from the meals served there.

I was later told that filthy water was used
to cook the meals.

Raymond points out that the evacuee filtration system involves abuses and human rights violations that are prohibited under international law.

From strip searching, to renunciation of Ukrainian citizenship and then repeated accounts of abuse.

They're trying to control the civilian population.

Denis witnessed a woman being taken away during filtration.

A Ukrainian defense contact was found on a
woman's cell phone and she was taken away.

Unfortunately, we have no idea
what happened to her after that.

Evacuees who fail the screening process are believed to be sent to detention facilities elsewhere.

Testimonies of torture at those facilities have been reported one after another.

Many of those who have been detained remain silent, but one man who suffered a severe leg injury agreed to talk.

He was a citizen volunteer carrying relief supplies, who was arrested and tortured during more than 40 days of detention.

I was suspected of being a combatant.

They tortured me with electric shocks
and beat me. My eardrums were ruptured.

The accumulated blood clotted and
my ears were clogged up.

The Yale University report confirmed Olenivka, north of Mariupol, is one of the largest detention facilities.

The Russians claim that the facility at Olenivka houses Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered and that they are treated humanely.

However, Raymond's team has pointed out that it's not just prisoners of war who are being detained there.

This facility holds both civilians who are in detention as part of the filtration system, and prisoners of war.

Raymond noticed a change at this facility that suggested a serious situation.

April.

Many holes suddenly appeared in the ground in a corner of the property.

They are approximately two meters, they could fit a six-foot-tall individual.

By June, the holes had disappeared.

However, in July, another area was dug up.

Does it prove it's a grave?

No.

Until there's a forensic team on the ground that can exhume those locations, we don't know.

But it is consistent with activity, or the lack thereof, that you would see on an alleged mass grave site.

Not long after, the detention facility was attacked, and more than 50 inmates were reportedly killed.

Both Russia and Ukraine denied the involvement of their military.

The truth remains shrouded in darkness.

We are not the only ones with this concern.

There is enough evidence to investigate Olenivka as a potential mass killing site.

At the end of the summer, this video came into our hands.

It was filmed at great risk to let people know about the current situation in Mariupol.

It all burned down.

More than 100,000 people are said to remain in the city.

Restoration of the city's infrastructure had been delayed and it was difficult to secure food supplies.

A Ukrainian humanitarian aid organization provided us with these videos.

Even since the Russian occupation, they have continued to support the residents of Mariupol, in defiance of strict controls.

People starving simply, they have not enough food this summer, so the number of dead people who just laying down in the street was horrible.

Many people just died because of the sick.

Those who are left there are normally elderly people damaged for invalid.

So situation is critical there. It's absolutely critical.

Around the same time, rapid changes were taking place on the outskirts of Mariupol.

An unusual image was captured.

Just a few months after the start of the Russian occupation, a massive construction site had appeared.

On the Russian state-run media, we found this video which shows part of the development plan for the site.

The plan says they intend to rebuild Mariupol within three years, and construction is already underway.

What is being built first is this apartment complex.

Russia is emphasizing that the development is progressing for the sake of the people of Mariupol.

Besides an apartment complex,
we have built a medical center.

It's not only the city infrastructure that is being reformed.

In September, Russia held a so-called referendum, and unilaterally declared its annexation of four regions.

Schools reopened and began teaching in the Russian style in line with the Russian curriculum.

Koizumi Yu, an expert on Russian policy and military strategy, says this is a typical Russian move in occupied territories.

The idea of "Russification" seems
to have been prioritized.

The typical way they do it is to switch to a Russian-style
education and send in Russian teachers.

Before the war, President Putin accused Ukraine
of forcibly assimilating its Russian population.

It's as though he wants to
get his own back.

Koizumi has continued his Russian military analysis using satellite imagery.

Today, he's checking a military base on the Northern Territories that are claimed by Japan but controlled by Russia.

He finds something unusual.

Normally, there are a lot of helicopters here,
but they've disappeared.

In this September satellite image, the air force unit that would normally be there cannot be seen.

So where did they go?

When he takes a look at a Russian air base near the Ukrainian border...

...helicopters and fighter jets are closely lined up.

I think you can see that it's turning into
a frontline base.

Since the spring, the focus has been
attacking the eastern Donbas region.

The Russian forces are having trouble
securing the upper hand.

So a lot of Far East resources
have been taken to the west.

The great impact of the war
in Ukraine is obvious.

Since the start of the invasion in February, the Russian forces are said to have lost much of their military equipment.

To get a better grasp of this, we turned our attention to an organization based in the Netherlands.

It's an Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT, research team called ORYX.

It totalizes the number and type of the equipment that the Russian and Ukrainian forces have lost.

It records only those pieces that have been verified by open source data, such as photographs and videos.

Major media and research institutions often quote ORYX's data, regarding it as highly reliable.

A central figure of ORYX accepted an interview with the Japanese media, for the first time.

ORYX is a blog of open source researchers.

We think our work is important to show the impact of changes in Modern Warfare on equipment and its use.

We have visualized the military equipment loss data accumulated by ORYX in graph form.

Losses confirmed so far in Russia amount to nearly 8,000 which is 3.5 times greater than Ukraine's total of just over 2,200.

Because this trend has continued ever since the start of the conflict, the nature of the Russian military losses has changed.

It started about a month after the invasion.

It was very noticeable that almost all equipment losses are very recent equipment.

And after about months, we have noticed an increasing rate of equipment that was clearly in reserve: for example, 30-40 years old.

An example of this are Russian T-62M tanks which is the tank designed and made in 1960s.

It's definitely more of a museum piece.

Ukraine's counter-offensive began in July.

It has been accelerating the recapture of key locations in the eastern and southern regions, including Kharkiv and Kherson.

Russian military expert Koizumi's analysis of the ORYX data focuses in on Russia's loss of tanks.

The percentage of tanks captured by
the Ukrainian forces is very high.

'Captured' means equipment collected by the enemy.

According to the November data, the number of Russian tanks captured amounted to more than 30% of the total number of Russian tank losses.

If you have to throw it away and run,
you should destroy it first so that it can't be used.

It's very careless just to run away and leave it.

Perhaps, they were so pressed, they couldn't
even spare the time to destroy it before escaping.

Or morale is so low, some guys don't do it
even though they know they should.

Russian losses are piling up because of the protracted war.

Janovsky thinks it will be difficult for Russia to endure this situation.

Not sustainable, especially for Russia.

And now, Russia is trying to regain the superiority by calling up mobilization, which would solve its manpower problems and allow it to once again to maybe gain advantage.

But the troops just mobilized probably didn't train all that well, and you hand them equipment that their fathers might have served with 20 or 30 years ago.

It's hard to see who will have advantage.

For Ukraine as well, the maintenance of military power due to the prolonged fighting has become a major challenge.

Against this backdrop, digital donations are rapidly spreading.

This figure holding a Javelin anti-tank missile is called Saint Javelin.

This Internet meme has gained great popularity.

Various goods have been made and sold online around the world to raise funds for Ukraine.

The resulting donations have amounted to nearly two million US dollars.

To win, the people must unite
and raise money.

The path to victory is tough.
I think every citizen should contribute.

We buy body armor, optic devices, scopes, drones, medical supplies and cars for the military.

Donations by citizens have greatly contributed to supplies for the Ukrainian forces.

One of the largest civic groups in Ukraine is the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation.

With more than 100 active volunteers, it has a neork in nine locations throughout Ukraine.

The group is organized by Serhiy Prytula.

Appearing on numerous talk shows as a comedian, Prytula is a very popular figure in Ukraine.

We help everyone who fights for Ukraine.

Doesn't matter you are volunteer fighters, or you are from armed forces.

The donation drive using the Bayraktar drone has made the Prytula foundation world-famous.

The Bayraktar is a type of military drone manufactured in Turkey.

Remotely controlled, they can fly for up to 27 hours.

Bayraktars have destroyed tanks and Russian combat vehicles one after another, making them a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

The Russian troops came to our home, Ukraine.

They were in clean uniforms carrying weapons.
But their equipment got broken!

Bayraktar.

The more Bayraktars Ukraine can acquire, the more advantage it can gain.

The price of each drone, however, is five million US dollars.

They're not cheap.

Let's buy Bayraktar together!

Prytula launched a campaign named 'People's Bayraktar' to buy three drones.

And then...

Please buy cherries for Bayraktar!

Buy, Buy, Bayraktar!

Can't you buy me some flowers?

No way! I gave all my money
to Bayraktar!

In the blink of an eye, the donation drive spread nationwide.

I donated to Bayraktar.

The goal of 15 million dollars was achieved in just three days.

The final total was 20 million.

I was happy because it was project not only about drones, but also this was about Ukrainian unity.

Just as they were about to purchase the long-cherished Bayraktars, there was an unexpected turn.

We donated three more Bayraktars to Ukraine.

The manufacturer himself donated three Bayraktars to Ukraine.

Ah how I feel?

At first I thought that it was a joke.

I never met somebody who makes a gift in 15 million dollars, you know.

But the next step was, what we can do to make them happy 100% of them.

What was the best use of the donations for the people of Ukraine?

Prytula's decision was to purchase a satellite.

Our intelligence, they explained how it's important for us.

So we are first charitable foundation in the world that bought a Satellite.

The satellite purchased by the foundation is a radar-based SAR satellite which can capture images even in bad weather or at night.

Moreover, it's use enables image capture every few hours, making it possible to monitor Russian military movements in almost real time.

We are extremely proud of that.

And we are extremely eager to share this technology with others for the good use.

I'm happy that it works.

I have possibility to work and to help I did for my people, and for my country.

That's all those technologies.

It's possible only because of information technologies, it helps.

The Digital Eye team continued to track the whereabouts of the Mariupol evacuees by analyzing the cell phone location data.

Red indicates the locations where a lot of movement occurred in the seven months following the invasion.

A major easard flow into Russia and then northward emerged.

This shows that evacuees from Mariupol were on the move inside Russia.

I wanted to go to Europe.
I had no plans to live in Russia.

We hoped to return to Ukraine via Russia.

The Mariupol evacuees we interviewed are currently living in Germany as refugees.

How did they manage to escape from Russia?

A common feature of their stories is that they passed through Taganrog, a Russian city near the border with Ukraine.

A large number of refugees from Mariupol were temporarily housed at a sports center in the city.

They reported that the promotion of settlement in Russia was being conducted there.

There was a poster seeking
new residents for the Russian Far East.

A friend advised me to escape
if the Russians tried to take me to another town.

Refugees were being sent all over Russia
and many were taken to the Far East.

If the refugees did not want to settle in Russia, they had no option but to flee.

However, they had neither the information nor the means.

My two laptops were taken by
Chechen soldiers in Mariupol.

We had no idea where to head.

Then my relatives in Ukraine found
a support site on the Internet.

This is the site of an organization based in Germany that her relatives had been able to locate.

This organization is "helping Ukrainian refugees to make it safely into Europe" and providing help regarding evacuation through Russia.

When refugees enter the required information for help on this site...

I received a message saying,
"This person will help you."

I was told, "Your contact person is
in St. Petersburg," so I got in touch.

The contact information of the Russian person who would assist in the escape was sent to Victoria.

Her name was Nadya.

When Victoria sent a message to Nadya, she replied instantly.

I'll remit you 5,000 rubles immediately.
And I'll arrange a taxi for you.

Victoria took the taxi arranged by Nadya and moved to the largest city in the area, Rostov-on-Don, about a 90-minute drive from Taganrog.

From there, Nadya instructed her to take the train to St. Petersburg.

Nadya had made the arrangements online for the tickets based on the ID information Victoria had sent her in advance.

Nadya paid for everything, including taxis,
the train fare for the three of us, and food.

They arrived in St. Petersburg.

It's a major city close to the borders with Estonia and Finland.

Both Victoria and Denis were going to meet Nadya there for the first time.

Nadya came to the station to pick us up by car.

She had a tattoo of the Ukrainian flag on her arm.

I was wondering what Nadya would be like,
but I felt I could trust her as soon as we met.

She showed me her tattoo of the Ukrainian flag.

So who is this Russian "Nadya" who is supporting the Mariupol refugees?

After lengthy negotiations, she contacted us to say that she would be willing to do an interview.

We head to Germany to meet her.

Hello!

We are greeted by Nadezhda Kolobaeva, a.k.a. Nadya.

Welcome!

As a Russian who has been helping Ukrainian refugees, Nadya fled from her native country to Germany, along with her partner and daughter.

Hello!

It's our new friend from IKEA.

On her arm is the Ukrainian flag tattoo as mentioned by the refugees.

I do the tattoo for supporting Ukraine.

Nadya has so far assisted about 30 Ukrainian refugees.

Victoria and Denis had both been taken in Nadya's car from St. Petersburg to the Estonian border, and safely escaped from Russia.

I can't thank Nadya enough for
saving the lives of both me and my family.

Nadya revealed to us that many other Russians are involved in the refugee support activities.

The Russian volunteers exchange information in secret communities on social neorking sites.

The existence of the communities is confidential.
You cannot find it even by searching.

It's like an underground organization.

The number of members in the St. Petersburg community alone exceeds 10,000.

It's a spontaneous community supporting
the refugees however much we can.

According to Nadya, the support communities have coordinators who organize the efforts of many volunteers.

The coordinators receive information on refugees in Ukraine via the Internet.

They then allocate the necessary support to volunteers.

This is the kind of message that comes from the coordinator.

A volunteer with a car is needed to take refugees from St. Petersburg to near the Estonian border.

They include a 70-year-old.

Can someone provide a folding chair for a girl who injured her leg in Mariupol?

The requests from refugees are so varied.
The coordinators have the hardest job of all.

The coordinators play a pivotal role in the support.

We were able to interview one of them.

As an archbishop in St. Petersburg, he has been engaged in charitable church activities.

After 24th of February, we understand that it's necessary to do something.

The refugees from Ukraine, maybe the main problem is they have no information.

It is necessary to help people just to travel, you know, Russia is not so small country.

He told us the Russian support community is working with Ukrainian and European support groups to ensure the safe movement of refugees.

We are in contact with our Ukrainian colleagues.

Let me say it has no structure.

Heart to heart, people to people.

Thanks to the St. Petersburg supporters, more than 8,000 Ukrainian refugees have so far been able to escape from Russia.

Digital technology enables people all over the world
to come together around those in need of help.

Hello!

Nadya keeps in touch with the refugees she has helped.

Today, she has a chat with Victoria, who, like her, is now in Germany.

How's your son getting on?

He goes to school here.
It's a school that teaches in German and Ukrainian.

Victoria has been settled in a safe place.

But she still longs for the day she can return to Mariupol.

The Russian Army destroyed everything
that was dear to our hearts and minds.

But when Mariupol returns to Ukraine,
I want to go back right away.

I love Mariupol so much!

I feel responsible as a Russian.

It's the responsibility of all Russians who
supported the current regime, and I am no exception.

The calendar has turned to September.

But, for me, it's still February 24th in winter.
Spring has not yet arrived.

Now I can share the feelings
of the Ukrainian refugees, although I haven't experienced even
a fraction of the horrors they have.

November, Mariupol.

On some days, the mercury is already falling below zero.

How do the residents spend their days?

We have no way of knowing that except through citizens' messages on social neorking sites and via the Russian media.

In their damaged homes, people prepare for the onset of the harsh Ukrainian winter.

How will you get through this winter?

I don't know yet. I've prepared everything.

The stove is here.

No windows. No running water.

But we're not moving. This is all we have.

On the wall of an apartment block in the city of Mariupol, there are these words:

"I want to survive."