A headquarters of fighters belonging to the Russian private military group Wagner, located in the occupied city of Popasna (Ukraine), was bombed in early August by the Ukrainian army.

as the story goes wired media, The Ukrainian military forces were able to orchestrate this attack by exploiting public data available on social networks, in this case two photos shared on August 8 on the Telegram messaging application by a journalist.

The first shot was aimed at what appeared to be Wagner’s military headquarters. The other photo, which has since been deleted, revealed the address of the headquarters in question thanks to the presence of a traffic sign in the image. So many elements that, once in the hands of the enemy, were especially sensitive.

Information in “open sources”

The Ukrainian military, which has not officially confirmed the link between the publication of the photos and the bombing, was able to easily access this freely available information. She attacked the facility with a battery of missiles days after the snapshots went online. During this operation, several Russian fighters were killed and part of the building was destroyed.

The use of these photographs to locate the site operated by Wagner however, it was mentioned by a Ukrainian government official. A fact that illustrates the important place that OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) occupies, this ability to obtain strategic information from data in “open sources” (of free access), in modern conflicts.

The intelligence obtained through this means the use of public data, such as social media posts, flight tracking data or satellite images. Purpose: To investigate online events around the world, whether they are potential war crimes or human rights abuses.

Some days ago, a Russian tourist who wanted to show his photos Holidays on social media unknowingly revealed the position of an air defense system based in Crimea. The specialists were thus able to geolocate the machines. A gesture hailed, ironically, by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on Twitter.