Since before Russia began its invasion on February 24, 2022, Yousur Al-Hlou and I have been on the ground in Ukraine. We arrived in Ukraine before the Russian invasion, filming and reporting for five months from multiple hotspots. We chronicled the human impact of the war on Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, while also gathering and verifying evidence that has opened up new investigations and avenues of reporting for journalists covering the war.

When Russian forces retreated from the Ukrainian town of Bucha in early April, Yousur and I were among the first on the scene. We began an eight-month reporting effort to collect documentary evidence in Bucha. Over the course of the investigation, we obtained and analyzed together with our Visual Investigations team: over 23 terabytes of security camera, witness and drone footage; more than 4,000 audio recordings from intercepted phone calls; thousands of photographs; and hundreds of military documents. We were able to identify – for the first time – the specific Russian military unit and commander responsible for potential crimes against humanity in Bucha. We also reported on the final moments of 36 victims who were killed along Yablunska Street.

We also published multiple interactive investigations around this reporting in Bucha: uncovering exclusive footage that revealed how a group of Ukrainian men were marched to their death; obtaining exclusive audio from intercepted phone calls by Russian soldiers that revealed an army in disarray; and uncovering documents and intercepts that showed how President Putin’s war in Ukraine became a catastrophe for Russia.