Item — HN Reader

If by "controversy" you mean disinformation techniques designed to cast doubt on credible reports of war crimes, you are correct. See [1] for an analysis of this claim, including tracing it back to WarOnFakes and denials by Peskov. One of the great things about that report (making it I think particularly suitable for a Hacker News audience) is that it invites skeptical or critical readers to check the evidence themselves. Likely there is a reader of this thread who is competent at analyzing satellite imagery metadata and figuring out shadow angles.

[1]: https://www.info-res.org/post/disinformation-denial-russia-s...

2 comments

Dispassionate technical analysis is where I'm trying to turn the focus, getting away from the reliance on emotional and ad hominem rhetoric in these threads.

That's interesting, I hope to study it deeper one day.

Do you have similar info about the Kramatorsk train station attack by Tochka-U? I saw explanations that, relatively convincingly imho, attribute the launch to Urkainian forces.

Namely, if one draws a line through the the place where the rocket part fallen and where the warhead exploded, that line points to Ukrainan positions (to Dobropillia).

In addition, Conflict Intelligence Team (an anti-Putin open source investigation group), analyzed the situation based on the orientation of the rocket part itself, as it layed on the ground. Their report: https://t.me/CITeam/2463. According to them, the rocket part can at most change orientation by 45 degrees. So they draw a sector +-45° from the rocket part direction as it lays on the ground, and only on a far side of this sector they find Russian positions (see the map in the report). Given the probabilistic nature of this process, I think the further away from the actual direction of the rocker part (which points almost directly to Dobropillia on the map), the less likely this is the source of the launch. In other words, the Russian positions are in an "unlikely" part of the sector.

Anyways, using two points - the rocker part location and the explosion point - seems to be the strongest argument. (I haven't geolocated the photos myself yet, but those reports claim the line points towards Dobropillia).

Do you know good counter arguments to this?

In fact I do, Bellingcat has published extensive analysis[1] of this attack.

[1]: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/04/14/russias-kramators...

Thanks, I will read it. (This question seems addressed starting with phrase: "Information shared on pro-Russian Telegram channels, meanwhile, compared the area where the missile’s missile body landed with the general impact zone of the cluster munitions.")