Ukrainians Use Drones, Facial-Recognition Software as They Investigate Alleged War Crimes; Ukraine says potent Russian hack against power grid thwarted; Ukraine strikes Russian ammunition depot; Zelensky Calls for More Military Aid, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Apr 12, 2022

Ukrainians Use Drones, Facial-Recognition Software as They Investigate Alleged War Crimes

Prosecutors gather evidence in the killings of hundreds of people in Bucha

Searching for evidence in the killings of hundreds of people by Russian troops here, Ukrainian prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko unlocked the double doors leading to a boiler room on the south side of town. The space had been used as an office by the occupying forces.

Two weeks after Russia’s retreat from areas around the Ukrainian capital, local and national authorities are embarking on a wide-ranging probe of alleged war crimes with the aim of building cases strong enough to persuade an international court to hold the Kremlin and its soldiers responsible.

In Bucha, Mr. Kravchenko, the district’s chief prosecutor, says his goal is to identify the perpetrator of each assault, rape and killing allegedly committed during the Russian occupation. More than 400 bodies were recovered from the town’s streets, cellars and hastily dug holes, some bearing signs of torture, local authorities said, others killed by snipers’ bullets while foraging for food.

Investigators from prosecutors’ offices, the security services and the Justice Ministry are reviewing security-camera videos and using facial-recognition software and other high-tech forensic methods combined with lots of shoe-leather detective work in the towns once held by Russian soldiers.

In a blue vest reading “War Crimes Prosecutor,” Mr. Kravchenko, 32, stepped on the cigarette butts and red-checkered playing cards scattered across the boiler-room floor. A blocky military radio sat on a desk beside black headphones, a spiraled cord and a camouflage field jacket.

Mr. Kravchenko leafed through a collection of documents.

A Russian paratrooper had left behind a military ID card.

A soldier born in 2002, in Revda, in the Russian region of Sverdlovsk, retreated without his passport.

A 23-year-old officer from Pskov had left a bank card and coronavirus vaccination certificate. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine says potent Russian hack against power grid thwarted:

Russian military hackers attempted to knock out power to millions of Ukrainians last week in a long-planned attack but were foiled, Ukrainian government officials said Tuesday.

At one targeted high-voltage power station, the hackers succeeded in penetrating and disrupting part of the industrial control system, but people defending the station were able to prevent electrical outages, the Ukrainians said.

“The threat was serious, but it was prevented in a timely manner,” a top Ukrainian cybersecurity official, Victor Zhora, told reporters through an interpreter. “It looks that we were very lucky.”

The hackers from Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency used an upgraded version of malware first seen in its successful 2016 attack that caused blackouts in Kyiv, officials said, that was customized to target multiple substations. They simultaneously seeded malware designed to wipe out computer operating systems, hindering recovery.

Authorities did not specify how many substations were targeted or their location, citing security concerns, but a deputy energy minister, Farid Safarov, said “2 million people would have been without electricity supply if it was successful.” —>READ MORE HERE

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