How We Work
Our promise is simple: we show you how we know what we say. This page explains, in plain language, the rules we follow for every article and every video.
Whose side we are on
We cover the war from Ukraine’s side. We believe Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is an act of aggression, and we do not pretend to be neutral about that.
Being on Ukraine’s side does not mean repeating everything Kyiv says. Ukrainian official statements are checked exactly like Russian ones. If we cannot confirm something, we say so, whoever said it. We think that is the best way to serve our readers, and Ukraine.
Where our information comes from
Not all sources are equal. We rank them like this, from strongest to weakest:
- Direct evidence. Official documents, court records, satellite images, and photos or videos whose place and time have been checked (geolocated).
- Established news agencies and newspapers with reporters on the ground and a record of correcting their mistakes, such as Reuters, the Associated Press, AFP and the BBC.
- Specialist researchers and analysts who publish their methods, such as think tanks and open-source investigators.
- Official statements from governments and armies, on any side. They are important, but they are claims until something independent supports them.
- Social media posts and messaging channels. We only use them as leads, or with a clearUNVERIFIED – Unverified: reported, but we could not check it. Treat with caution. label.
Every article ends with a numbered list of sources: the outlet, the title, the date and a link. In the text, a small number such as [1] tells you which source supports a sentence.
What our labels mean
Inside our articles you will see three labels. They tell you how solid each statement is.
CONFIRMED – Confirmed: backed by at least two independent, reliable sources or by direct evidence.
Backed by at least two independent, reliable sources, or by direct evidence such as a verified photo or an official document. “Independent” means the sources did not simply copy each other.
CLAIMED – Claimed: stated by a government, army or official, but not independently verified.
Said by a government, an army, an official or a spokesperson, but not yet checked by anyone independent. We tell you who made the claim. This applies to Russian and Ukrainian officials.
UNVERIFIED – Unverified: reported, but we could not check it. Treat with caution.
Reported somewhere, but we could not check it. We include it only when it matters to the story, and you should treat it with caution.
Labels can change. When new evidence appears, we update the article and the “Last updated” date.
How we handle Russian and Ukrainian official claims
- We always say who made a claim, and when.
- Claims about the enemy’s losses, from either side, are labelled CLAIMED – Claimed: stated by a government, army or official, but not independently verified. unless independent evidence supports them.
- Official accounts can change quickly, sometimes within days. We report what officials say when it is newsworthy, but we never present it as fact without independent support.
- Ukrainian officials sometimes cannot share details for security reasons. We respect that, and we label what we cannot confirm.
People, not machines, are responsible
Our videos are researched and scripted by people. The articles on this site are the written versions of those videos: they are prepared from the narration with the help of AI tools and reviewed by our editors. We also use AI tools to help search through material and to create illustrations. A person is responsible for everything we publish.
Images made with AI are always marked “Illustration”. We never use AI to create fake photos of real events or real people.
When we get it wrong
Mistakes happen. When we make one, we correct the article, add a note at the end explaining what changed, and list the correction with its date on our public Corrections page. We do not quietly delete mistakes.
If you spot an error, please email us at hello@orbissentinel.com. A member of the editorial team reads every report.