Olga Robinson

Surge in Ukrainian oil refinery attacks sparks Russian fuel shortages Ukraine has attacked refineries deep inside Russia, with Zelensky vowing to continue the strikes.

Ukraine's strategic attacks on oil refineries causing problems for Russia, from @olgar.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Surge in Ukrainian oil refinery attacks sparks Russian fuel shortages Ukraine has attacked refineries deep inside Russia, with Zelensky vowing to continue the strikes.

Ukraine’s equivalent of Bomber Command is conducting a quietly effective campaign to disrupt Russian fuel supplies. Great investigation led by @olgar.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC Verify Live: Ukraine city strike caught on dashcam, and Mali militants attack town Latest updates from the BBC's specialists in fact-checking, verifying video and tackling disinformation.

Couple of Verify live page posts today.

How we used satellite imagery, streetview, reverse searches, shadows, sanctions lists, weather, and the speed of sound to confirm strikes in Poltava, Ukraine: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

And in Yelets, Russia: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Israel-Iran conflict unleashes wave of AI disinformation Fake AI videos relating to the conflict have gained over 100 million views online, BBC Verify finds.

The AI war!
Or: a new dimension in the spreading of #disinformation.

@matt-murphy96.bsky.social, @olgar.bsky.social and @shayan86.bsky.social report on BBC Verify that an increasing number of AI-generated footage is circulating online, apparently depicting scenes from #Iran - #Israel conflict.

Israel-Iran conflict unleashes wave of AI disinformation Fake AI videos relating to the conflict have gained over 100 million views online, BBC Verify finds.

BBC Verify has analysed dozens of fakes - a lot of them AI generated - related to the Iran-Israel conflict in the last week.
We’ve found that the top three fakes have amassed over 100m views across multiple platforms. @shayan86.bsky.social @matt-murphy96.bsky.social www.bbc.com/news/article...

Tensions escalate as Pakistan vows response to Indian strikes after Pahalgam killings - latest Pakistan says the air strikes by India killed 26 as Delhi says 15 were killed by Pakistan shelling.

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Quick one on geolocation among the Kashmir strikes overnight.

Here was the first video we verified late yesterday. It's from Kotli, later confirmed by the Indian Army as a site it targeted.

Let me take you through how to check what's real and not.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw...

How did rebels train to overthrow the President of Syria? The BBC identifies videos of sites and training showing how the rebels formed a single force.

/1 THREAD (Call it OSint if you want.)

How we know where rebels trained in Syria, and how you can too. With a little bit of asking why Assad / Putin didn’t.

Or, let me break down this video, it’s five months’ work in 65 seconds.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Juanita Broaddrick @atensnut Dear American taxpayers. You just purchased Zelensky’s wife a Princess Diana dress for $2.9 million. Despicable!! Readers added context they thought people might want to know Diana sold the dress at her Christie’s auction in 1997. It was purchased by a Scottish couple for £39,098. They are still the rightful owners, and the dress is currently on display at the Museum of Style in Newbridge, County Kildare

A fake video masquerading as a report by The Sun has gone viral. It baselessly claims Olena Zelenska has bought Princess Diana's "revenge dress" from Harry and Meghan for $2.9m.

The clip is likely the work of a known Russian disinformation operation that mimics news outlets to disparage Ukraine.

Screengrab of collage of four photos posted on Telegram by Serhiy Lysak showing aftermath of strike on a bus near Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, morning of 23 April 2025.

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What can we tell about images of a strike on a bus in Marhanets, Ukraine earlier this week?

On Wednesday, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk, posted these images, saying nine people on the way to work at a local mining company were killed in the incident: t.me/dnipropetrov...

Ukrainecast - Q&A: Trump's peace plan, Crimea and the latest Kyiv attack - BBC Sounds The team answer listener questions in another pivotal week

On today’s Ukrainecast, we listened to a powerful testimony from Vitalii who got caught up in Russian strikes on Kyiv and answered some more of the listeners’ questions about Trump, peace talks and Ukrainian drones. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Russia seizing thousands of homes in occupied Mariupol - BBC News To save their homes, Ukrainians face a dangerous return through Russia, and pressure to take a Russian passport.

BBC Verify investigation by @olgar.bsky.social , me, Olga Malchevska and Matt Murphy into exactly how thousands of homes in Mariupol are being seized and transferred to Russians. Ukrainians can try to get their homes back but there’s a catch…
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

How Russia is seizing Ukrainian homes in Mariupol - BBC News To save their homes, Ukrainians face a dangerous return through Russia, and pressure to take a Russian passport.

Russia is confiscating Ukrainian homes in Mariupol in its continuing “Russification” campaign www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc... great work led by @olgar.bsky.social

Russia seizing thousands of homes in occupied Mariupol - BBC News To save their homes, Ukrainians face a dangerous return through Russia, and pressure to take a Russian passport.

A painstaking investigation by my BBC Verify colleagues @chrisjeavans.bsky.social @olgar.bsky.social Olga Malchevska and Matt Murphy looking at how Russia is seizing thousands of homes in occupied Mariupol. www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

Russia seizing thousands of homes in occupied Mariupol - BBC News To save their homes, Ukrainians face a dangerous return through Russia, and pressure to take a Russian passport.

Russian authorities are systematically seizing thousands of homes from Ukrainian residents of Mariupol.

BBC Verify has analysed dozens of official documents published since July 2024 that show at least 5,700 homes have been identified for seizure. www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

Survivor challenges Israeli account of attack on Gaza ambulances Palestinian paramedic Munther Abed rejects Israel's assertion that the vehicles approached troops with their lights off.

1/ THREAD -
Several articles by the BBC and other news orgs have covered many angles of the killing of 15 PRCS workers by Israeli troops near Rafah, Gaza, on 23 March this year, such as this piece: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My contribution to what we’ve been able to say explained below.

Ukrainecast - Your Questions Answered: Witkoff meets Putin, Chinese soldiers and Russia’s economy - BBC Sounds The Ukrainecast team answer listener questions on 5Live

It was great to join Vitaly Shevchenko of Ukrainecast and Lyse Doucet earlier today on BBC 5Live to answer some of the listeners’ questions about the peace talks and the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Presented by Leila Nathoo. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Ukraine's military says the intensity of Russian front line assaults has increased by 30% in the past week.

In the Sumy region, 47 attacks were reported.

Still no evidence suggesting that Moscow has given up on its goal of taking as much of Ukraine as possible.

Dominican Republic nightclub collapse: Despair as death toll rises Rescue workers are searching for survivors of the incident, which killed at least 113 people.

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What can we say / you know from verifying social media videos from the Dominican Republic nightclub fire, where at least 113 people have died?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Gaza: Israeli strike on school kills 27, health ministry says Palestinian authorities say children were among the dead, while Israel says it hit a Hamas command-and-control centre.

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How we know what we know about what happened around Dar al-Arqam school, al Tuffah, Gaza, yesterday afternoon and evening. (Call it OSint if you like.)

This will include unpacking two images in our main story: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

At least 14 people, including five children, are dead after a Russian missile hit this block in the southern city of Kryvyi Rih, say officials there.

Ukrainecast - Your Questions Answered: Putin's endgame, Ukrainian elections and North Koreans - BBC Sounds Ukrainecast and the Global News Podcast answer listener questions

Could Putin ever agree to peace and would an election help Zelensky consolidate power?

These are some of the questions Vitaly Shevchenko, FrankGardner and I tried to answer on today’s Ukrainecast collaboration with Global News Podcast. Presented by Oliver Conway www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A screengrab of seven photos published on Telegram by Palestine Daily Newspaper, showing destruction in central Khan Yunis, 2 April 2025

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What do @paulybrown.bsky.social and I know about two strikes in Gaza today, which have reportedly killed at least 31 people? And how do we know? And how can you open-source investigate it, too?

First: Khan Yunis, where Palestinian media say a family home was struck overnight.

BBC Verify: Earthquake video proven fake gets millions of views BBC Verify: Earthquake video proven fake gets millions of views

An AI generated video of the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Myanmar has gone viral alongside real footage of devastation.
Here’s how we know the fake video is not real
@paulybrown.bsky.social @shayan86.bsky.social @jcheetham.bsky.social;
@herdjemimah.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Ukrainecast - Your Questions Answered: Trump's next move, Black Sea ceasefire and the Arctic - BBC Sounds The Ukrainecast team round off the week by answering listener questions

On the latest episode of Ukrainecast @jameswaterhouse.bsky.social James Landale and I
answer some of the listeners’ questions about the war in Ukraine and the ongoing ceasefire talks www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Real videos of someone dressed as Pikachu at protests in Turkey are being shared, but THIS image is NOT authentic.

Experts from GetReal Labs have analysed the photo and found “strong evidence of synthesis”.

One of the telltale signs is the misspelled text on the police van. @shayan86.bsky.social

Ukrainecast - Your Questions Answered: Zelensky's popularity, the UN and how Trump called Putin - BBC Sounds The Ukrainecast team answer listener questions on BBC 5 Live

It was great to be back on Ukrainecast and BBC 5 Live to answer listeners’ questions about the war in Ukraine alongside the brilliant Lyse Doucet and Vitaly Shevchenko. Presented by @mattchorley.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Ros Atkins on... the week after the Oval Office row The BBC's Analysis Editor Ros Atkins takes a look at the situation on the ground in Ukraine.

As the intense diplomacy around the war in Ukraine continues, so does Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

@rosatkins.bsky.social takes a look at how this has been playing out on the ground.

@benedictgarman.com @paulybrown.bsky.social Catherine Karelli Yana Lyushnevska www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

BBC Verify: Viral Donald Trump Jr audio highly likely AI fake A widely shared clip of Donald Trump Jr allegedly saying on his podcast that the US should have sent arms to Russia rather than Ukraine has been very likely generated using AI, audio forensics experts...

A widely shared audio of Donald Trump Jr allegedly saying on his podcast that the US should have sent weapons to Russia has been very likely generated using AI, audio forensics experts have told BBC Verify. @shayan86.bsky.social @herdjemimah.bsky.social and Jacqui Galvin www.bbc.com/news/videos/...

An AI-generated image of Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and Elon Musk

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Throwback to three weeks ago.

If you've not seen it, @shayan86.bsky.social and @olgar.bsky.social's identified this image was AI-generated.

And here's what I found out to help out, a lesson in right-click: reverse image search.

The Documentary Podcast - BBC Trending: Ukraine war - the cost of bearing witness - BBC Sounds Open Source analysts and fact-checkers describe the toll of documenting the Ukraine war

How do you cope with covering Russia's war in Ukraine 3 (& more) years in? We spoke to 3 teams for their strategies & heard from expert Dr Anthony Feinstein on techniques for BBC Trending www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (with @olgar.bsky.social)