This article is part of the newly established collaboration between the IWM and the Polish online magazine Dwutygodnik. As part of this collaboration, we report on various aspects of the Ukrainian experience during the war and explore in particular the dynamics of Ukrainian cultural life. The articles coming out of this collaboration are first published in Ukrainian and Polish and then translated into English for Documenting Ukraine.
For the following piece, Dmytro Desiateryk from Dwutygodnik looked at initiatives of war documentation and interviewed Maksym Demydenko, one of the creators of the "Ukraine War Archive" (UWA), a non-profit collaborative digital preservation platform that creates a unified register of materials related to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
DMYTRO DESIATERYK: Maksym, how did the War Archive begin? How did this idea come about?
MAKSYM DEMYDENKO: The first conversation with director Roman Bondarchuk took place in early March 2022. I think we’d both developed a certain understanding in parallel. The largest human rights film festival in Eastern Europe, DocuDays, launched a project called the Encyclopedia of War and created a Telegram bot to collect materials and testimonies from people.
And for you personally?
For me, it started like this: I’ve been living in London for a long time. When the full-scale war began, I found myself on the Polish-Ukrainian border, on the Polish side, and got involved in initiatives to help Ukrainian refugees and send various supplies to Ukraine. We wanted to launch a fundraising campaign, so I reached out to a Ukrainian producer I knew. I knew that some documentary filmmakers she worked with were in Hostomel and Irpin, where the fighting was happening at that time. I inquired if we could ask them to provide footage for a fundraising video. She agreed and sent a link to an FTP server containing a few folders labeled “New Folder,” “New 24,” “New 38,” each holding various unnamed video files.
Despite the disorganization, these videos were incredibly important: They show real events documented, during the first days of the Russian invasion. It was clear that the people filming lacked the resources and ability to organize it all. If this material continued accumulating at such a pace without proper sorting and preservation, it would soon become impossible to find anything. The most valuable evidence could simply disappear, and it was also uncertain what might happen to the creators themselves in the near future.
So, I offered to help. Around that time, I connected with Roman Bondarchuk, and we discussed a joint initiative to process the Archive. This led to an agreement, and shortly after the name War Archive, or the Ukraine War Archive (UWA), was created. I don’t think we fully understood at that time how the War Archive project would evolve; it was an initial reaction that later, in my view, transformed significantly.
Is your organization, Infoscope, involved in this?
Yes, I founded it in 2022 in the UK, specifically for the War Archive. From the beginning, we understood the importance of storing these materials outside Ukraine. Infoscope was established to legally represent the War Archive abroad.
How does it work?
It’s essential to discuss what the Archive is and how we see its mission. Within the first few months, it became evident that the Russia-Ukraine War is one of the most documented conflicts in human history. At the same time, there are numerous fragmented initiatives involved in documenting it—human rights groups, media organizations, independent filmmakers. Together, they’re doing vital work advocating for Ukraine and supporting transitional justice. But there’s one challenge, namely access to these highly dispersed materials. The idea that the War Archive evolved into is the creation of a unified database to catalog what materials exist across different contributors. In other words, we wanted to build a catalog of a massive library.
I envision something like the first floor of the Vernadsky Library in Kyiv, with rows of cabinets and index cards detailing where each item is located. The documents themselves don’t necessarily have to be physically stored in the Archive. We have partner organizations which choose not to hand over materials because they may be sensitive or complex in content. Our task, however, is to record the existence of these materials, describe them, indicate the events they cover so that researchers can use the Archive as a single portal to understand how to access these videos. Today, the Archive operates as a collaborative platform involving over a hundred different organizations and initiatives.
Isn’t there an issue with copyright here?
The Archive does not claim ownership rights over these videos. In aggregating them on our platform, we can’t independently decide what happens with the materials. That prerogative remains with the original rights holders who determine the level and methods of access to the videos on the platform. Any use of the materials outside the Archive must be coordinated with the rights holders. This can complicate access somewhat but also enables us to collaborate more widely with rights holders. Organizations recognize the security in working with the Archive, and we also share the responsibility of providing access. Since the war is ongoing, there’s a lot of sensitive content, and such nuanced issues may not always be fully understood even by our team. So it’s crucial that we can share the responsibility of granting access to sensitive material with the rights holders who ultimately decide who may or may not access it.
And what are your personal roles within this structure?
I lead the technological development team. We’re building the platform on which the Archive operates, ensuring data storage and access, and providing tools for taggers and users. I’m also involved in developing its methodology. We hold many meetings with human rights organizations and legal experts, both Ukrainian and international, to ensure the materials can potentially serve as evidence in legal proceedings. Likely, only a small percentage—perhaps one percent or less—will ultimately be used in court cases. The requirements for data preservation, documenting the chain of custody, and the entire process are strict, and we must ensure they are fully met.
It would be a major failure if certain materials had the potential for use in court but couldn’t be admitted due to procedural lapses. This is a complex aspect that we continually study and improve upon. Unfortunately, there is no single recognized convention on this, so we have to constantly refine the process by bringing in consultants, conducting workshops with our team, and involving partner organizations. We can ensure data preservation from the moment they enter the Archive, but certain procedures also need to be observed before then, and not everyone understands this fully. Organizations like Global Rights Compliance, Truth Hounds, and others in Ukraine are doing tremendous work by training mobile documentation teams. But it’s still work that requires our involvement as well.
Another part of my role is seeking funding, developing strategic plans, and building partnerships.
Are there any performance metrics for the Archive?
I think it’s difficult to talk about numerical metrics. The Archive isn’t focused on maximizing user numbers. Our primary aim is to collect, process, and preserve materials. There have been cases where materials were transferred to the Archive, and then the original server hosting them was destroyed—an illustration of how, without the Archive, these videos would no longer exist. Since this is a sensitive area, we work with known organizations rather than promoting open access to everyone interested. Some Ukrainian and international human rights organizations, along with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, our Prosecutor General’s Office, and the International Criminal Court’s representative office, have access to the Archive.
In June, there was a submission from the International Federation for Human Rights to the International Criminal Court with a case against Russian propagandists Solovyov, Kiselyov, and Simonyan. The Archive participated in preparing and analyzing materials for this submission. We processed around 7,000 hours of Russian propaganda content.
I should add that I don’t view the Archive as a single repository. We encourage all partners to store materials in at least two separate locations. However, this depends on the significance and sensitivity of the materials as well as the resources of each partner organization.
Is it true that anyone who witnesses war crimes or other wartime events can submit information? Does the Archive also reach out to activists and human rights organizations?
Yes, it’s a two-way process. Our primary focus is on engaging organizations that document the war, and we don’t limit our outreach to specific types of organizations. This includes both human rights groups and media organizations.
Do OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) specialists contribute as well?
As their name suggests, OSINT specialists usually work with open sources. We have a separate direction dedicated to collecting materials from open sources. Currently, we aggregate content from about 3,500 Telegram channels, gathering approximately 20 million media files and 60 million posts while also creating screenshots to verify the authenticity of this data.
Those are staggering numbers—I can’t imagine how many people this requires.
Not too many actually—around fifty, including analysts, developers, interviewers, partnership coordinators, and others. We’ve automated as much of the process as possible and use various technologies to process information, implementing automatic tagging to improve the searchability and accessibility of materials.
The one thing that can’t be automated is our interaction with partners, which is a key focus. Media organizations, for instance, are a unique case. The footage they capture is primarily for news reporting, aimed at immediately covering events in a certain format. Most media outlets don’t have an internal system dedicated to archiving. However, we understand that this footage, while produced for immediate coverage, could become crucial evidence in future research for purposes we can’t yet foresee. Therefore, we encourage media organizations to donate their footage to the Archive. This applies to documentary filmmakers as well who often have a wealth of footage that doesn’t make it into the final cut but may still hold significant value.
Of course, filmmakers are usually protective of their footage and may not want it used by others, but they’re generally open to allowing researchers and investigators access to their work.
This raises a question about redundancy. There’s a large volume of documentary films, both Ukrainian and international, which inform and shock audiences, keeping attention on the war in Ukraine. Doesn’t the War Archive, which also allows access to these stories, somewhat duplicate that effort?
Currently, the Archive has recorded about 20,000 war-related events, if I’m not mistaken. The system within the Archive allows users to access a list of materials related to specific events documented by various organizations. For instance, if there was a missile strike on central Kharkiv, we can see that there are fifty files on this incident—some containing interviews, others showing the aftermath. Concurrently, there are materials from Telegram and other open sources about the same strike, as well as related articles in Ukrainian and international media, and even Russian propaganda coverage, offering their distorted view.
It must take very strong nerves to gather this kind of information.
That’s why we try to automate as many processes as possible. But yes, it requires resilience. We have a team of analysts working with witness interviews, but the amount of Russian propaganda is overwhelming, and no one has the mental stamina to sift through all of it. We try to support them as much as possible, but they verify and authenticate everything, experiencing some of the most traumatic parts of our work firsthand: seeing the victims’ testimonies, the consequences of bombings, and then the lies spread by Russian propaganda. It’s a necessary part of our work, enabling us to ensure all materials are retrievable when needed.
You’ve also seen many stories yourself. Are there any that left a deep impression, any that you can’t forget?
We have a series of final video messages from Ukrainian soldiers recorded shortly before their deaths. For me, this is probably the most emotionally challenging material in the Archive. One of the latest entries we received shows a prisoner exchange where Ukrainian soldiers returned home and were welcomed by their families. It’s a powerful, positive piece of footage.
Would you say that working with the Archive has been a challenge for you?
Yes, definitely. To some extent, the Archive has helped me understand why I’m not in Ukraine right now, why I didn’t return or cross the border back in March 2022 when I was in Poland. It’s a difficult personal realization for me. Managing the project in all its aspects, working with the team, securing funding, understanding methodological details—all of this has been a huge professional challenge because I hadn’t worked in this capacity before. My previous experience didn’t include leading a project, and stepping into this unexpectedly large role has been a major challenge. I’ve had to learn and master a lot of new tools and find ways to implement them effectively.
As a film critic, I’m glad to see that, perhaps unexpectedly, the Archive is now also functioning as a film production entity. Films are starting to come out with the War Archive credited as a co-producer.
Yes, it’s an exciting direction. We’ve produced two documentary films, two episodes of the documentary series Witnesses, and we’re now working on three more episodes. There’s a group of Ukrainian and international filmmakers who are using our materials. One current project under DocuDays within the Archive is an artistic lab involving five international artists who will work on cultural heritage topics, creating interactive exhibits.
How do you envision the Archive in the future? What would you like it to become?
Ultimately, we plan to hand it off to someone. The Ukraine War Archive (UWA) has already been registered as a separate organization. Both Infoscope and DocuDays are transferring their work to UWA which is an important step toward establishing the Archive as an independent institution. This standalone War Archive will carry on everything we’ve built so far. Maintaining the independence of the Archive is crucial to ensure that political changes don’t affect the preservation and representation of the events we’ve documented. We’re also considering partnerships with universities which could help uphold this independence.
And on a more strategic level?
We have a broad vision for the future: The Archive could eventually transform into a digital museum, serving future historians who want to study Ukrainians’ experiences during the war and the events collected within the Archive. We hope it will remain an enduring resource, like a Library of Alexandria that never burns down.
Interview by Dmytro Desiateryk; Translated by Kate Tsurkan; Photo of Maksym Demydenko by Valentyna K.
Ukraine War Archive
is a public initiative launched in March 2022 and a non-profit partnership platform for digital data storage which creates a unified register of materials related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Thanks to its innovative approaches, it serves as a tool for Ukrainian and international organizations to document recent history and present events objectively, creating the basis for establishing truth and justice. The Archive was created by the joint efforts of the teams of NGO DocuDays and Infoscope. The NGO DocuDays, represented by film director Roman Bondarchuk, is a Ukrainian organization that organizes the DocuDays UA human rights documentary film festival. Infoscope, headed by Maksym Demydenko, is a British non-profit organization that develops and implements technological solutions for data archiving and analysis. The War Archive includes interviews with eyewitnesses of war events recorded by his team—these testimonies are recorded in a way which guarantees that they can be used in court proceedings to prosecute war crimes. In the future, the project will create a unified database of digital materials (primarily video) and registered facts of war crimes against Ukraine, collected in a common catalog with the involvement of a wide network of Ukrainian and foreign partners. One of the relatively new areas of work is cooperation in the production of documentaries about the war and its consequences.
Dmytro Desiateryk
Ukrainian film critic and cultural journalist. Born in Dnipro, he graduated as a theater critic in Kyiv. In 1999–2022, he worked as a cultural correspondent for the daily all-Ukrainian newspaper Den, and now he is a regular contributor to the online publication Detektor Media (Ukraine). He is the author of materials on cinema and culture in Ukrainian and foreign media, including Livyi Bereh, Kinokolo, birdinflight.com, Koridor, Dilova Stolitsa (Ukraine), Current Time (Prague, Czech Republic), Nasze Słowo (Warsaw, Poland). He is a member of FIPRESCI, European and Ukrainian film academies, and has voted at the 80th, 81st, and 82nd Golden Globes.
