InformNapalm

International Volunteer Community

We debunk myths and expose secrets of the Russian hybrid war

Background

Russia launched its hybrid aggression against Ukraine in February 2014. At first, under the pretense of "a local uprising", Russia captured and illegally annexed Crimea - a move unthinkable in the 21^st century. In the meantime, the Kremlin was sending troops and weapons to Donbas, where it started the deadly war that has already claimed over 10,000 lives and driven 1.58 million Ukrainians out of their homes. Despite its direct involvement in the conflict, Russia keeps denying it. Instead, Moscow professes to be a peacemaker and seeks to undermine Ukraine through Kremlin's puppet leaders in Donbas.

Moscow's blatant behavior and deception sparked the wave of condemnation. Many people, including eyewitnesses, turned to debunking Russia's lies and revealing the evidence of the Russian aggression to the world. Some of them ultimately joined InformNapalm volunteer community.

InformNapalm volunteer initiative emerged as a response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine in March 2014.

It was started by journalist Roman Burko (Ukraine) and military expert Irakli Komaxidze (Georgia).

Now it unites the efforts of more than 30 volunteers from over 10 countries.
Our investigations are available for our readers in more than 20 languages.

Our volunteers are ordinary people from different walks of life who do:

research
analysis
verification of information
reporting
graphic design
translation into different languages.

We publish only verified information. All our investigations are published under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) and are free to copy and distribute by third parties.

Our core purpose

is to inform the world about the real role of the Russian government in ongoing hybrid conflicts in Ukraine, Georgia, other countries of Eastern and Central Europe, and in the Middle East.

Our objectives

Identification of Russian military servicemen taking part in hybrid wars stirred up by Russia in other countries, including their military ranks and the units they belong to

Exposing the facts of Russia's illegal weapon and military equipment exports

Collecting evidence that confirms the participation of Russian government officials and public figures in planning subversive operations and waging wars in other countries

Analysis and forecast of political-military situation in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East

Debunking the falsehoods of Russian propaganda.

How we obtain our data

We mostly rely on open sources and widely employ different OSINT methods of information gathering. We also receive some information from insiders (HUMINT) and hacktivists*.

* InformNapalm does not participate in or encourage computer hacking activities. Any information obtained from hacktivists undergoes a thorough verification based on alternative sources.

Our main achievements

over 1,800 journalist investigations translated into different languages

the largest online database of evidence confirming Russian military aggression against Ukraine
identification of persons who could be involved in the shootdown of Flight MH17 over the occupied Donbas (this information was used in the reports by our colleagues from Bellingcat team)
exclusive analysis of SurkovLeaks – the email dump belonging to Surkov's reception office obtained by Ukrainian Cyber Alliance (the authenticity of the emails was reconfirmed by several reputable organizations, including Atlantic Council's DFR Lab)
InformNapalm's findings were presented by official Ukrainian delegations during Parliamentary Assembly of the Councils of Europe and NATO Parliamentary Assembly in 2016-2018.
Volunteers gathered evidence of 32 Russian military units taking part in the invasion of Crimea
Proofs of the Russian Aggression: InformNapalm releases extensive database of evidence