United States Company Cooperation, FBI Collects Evidence Of Russian War Crime In Ukraine

The discovery of a mass grave in Izium, Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/armyinform.com.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukraine is working with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States company of Uncle Sam to gather evidence of war crimes by Russia, such as geolocation information and cell phones, a senior official said.

Ukrainian authorities have gathered digital information from warfields and war-torn Ukrainian cities since Russia invaded the country last February, said Alex Kobzanets, a special FBI agent who previously worked as a legal attach to the agency in Ukraine.

"The data collection, the data analysis, works through that data is something the FBI is experiencing," Kobzanets said at a cybersecurity conference at the RSA in San Francisco.

The work includes seeing cell phone information, forensic analysis of DNA samples, and analysis of body parts collected from the battlefield, he said.

"The next step is to work closely with the US national service provider, and transfer the information... get customer information, obtain geolocation information, if possible," added Kobzanets.

The work reflects the deepening collaboration between the US and Ukraine in cyber fronts, where Russia has become a common enemy for the two countries.

The Russian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this matter.

The agency added that the US FBI over the past year and a half had been trying to help Ukraine to also identify Russian collaborators and spies operating in Ukraine, as well as Russian troops operating outside Kyiv when the invasion occurred.

It is known that US security companies and officials have become Ukraine's main partners in its efforts to fend off Russia's cyberattacks, which have been fought since at least 2015.

Illia Vitiuk, head of the Cyber Information Security Department at Ukraine's Security Service, said the number of Russian attacks on Ukraine had increased in recent years, in recent months they had become more targeted.

"It is very difficult to prove in a criminal case, who is responsible," said Vitiuk.

"It is very important for us to get as much information as possible about Russian cybercriminals... because we are gathering all this information and bringing it into our criminal case," he explained.

"We believe that this cyber war crime case is something new. This is where we see the first full-scale cyber war," he concluded.