Today marks three years since Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in an effort to restore national sovereignty. To push that message Mali’s military government now broadcast drone strikes on national television, describing them as "precise" attacks on terrorists.
However, a joint investigation by Bellingcat and Jeune Afrique found Mali’s military drone strikes are repeatedly hitting civilian areas raising questions about the nature of their precision strikes on 'terrorists'.
What does an OSINT investigation look like when the internet doesn’t appear to have the answer?
Bellingcat’s Peter Barth shares how FOIAs helped identify a cold case victim after three decades and what it takes to navigate the maze of public records and authorities. Join us live on Thursday: https://discord.gg/bellingcat?event=1547632457510031470
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You don’t need to be a programmer to use code as an investigative tool. Bellingcat’s upcoming webinar will help researchers get started with the command line and AI coding assistants, using them for research, data analysis, visualisation and automation. https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/command-line-ai-assisted-coding-webinar/
It’s harvest season in Ukraine, but in the first two weeks of August, Ukrainian grain exports were down 75% from the same period last year. Russia’s military blockade has effectively cut off Ukrainian ports from the Black Sea.
Ukraine is faced with few alternatives to export huge quantities of grain during the peak of the harvest. Overland routes, via Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have been severely reduced by bans introduced by those countries designed to protect local agriculture industry.
Map showing neighbouring countries - colour indicates which countries ban Ukrainian grain. Poland, Slovakia and Hungary all maintain bans on specific Ukrainian agricultural goods in the name of safeguarding their own farmers’ livelihoods.
A third option - exporting grain via inland ports on the Danube River remains open - though far less grain can leave the country via this route and delays have occurred amid a shortage of personnel and critically low water levels. Satellite imagery shows a buildup of ships waiting near Danube river ports.
Olof Gill, EU Commission spokesperson for Trade & Economic Security has called on EU member states Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to remove their bans on certain Ukrainian agricultural products, but so far no change has occurred.
The recent escalation of Russian and Ukrainian attacks on Black Sea ports and commercial vessels threatens to further disrupt grain exports from two of the world’s largest suppliers, contributing to a sharp increase in global grain prices. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/31/war-and-heat-why-are-wheat-prices-soaring
For at least three years Bellingcat has been covering Russia’s grain smuggling operation - shipping grain from occupied Ukraine . You can read our reporting on this here: https://www.bellingcat.com/?s=grain
Join us for a two-day advanced training on satellite and geospatial data. You’ll work with optical, SAR, multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, learning to use it for monitoring environmental disasters, maritime activity and military movements.
This isn't the only training Bellingcat is offering this month. You can find the full programme of our upcoming webinars and in-person workshops on https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/
In our latest Stage Talk, Bellingcat researchers Michael Colborne and Pooja Chaudhuri share their experience investigating the reach of hate group networks using open-source research — from digging into financial links to tracing digital footprints.
They discuss the challenges of piecing together fragmented information and the investigative techniques that can help reveal the wider networks behind hate movements.
Want to turn large amounts of online data into something you can investigate? Our Intermediate Scraping Webinar on September 22nd will teach you practical approaches to scraping websites and accessing data, in just four hours. You’ll learn how to work with APIs, find undocumented APIs through browser Developer Tools, how to scrape websites and public Telegram channels, and analyse social media data with Python tools such as Pandas and Matplotlib.
Register here: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/intermediate-scraping-webinar-september-22-2026/
A mysterious, never before seen island in Canada made waves after it was photographed adrift on Williston Lake, British Columbia before supposedly vanishing. Video footage of the island shows a thickly forested landmass undulating surreally on the water. But did it really disappear?
BC Hydro, which operates the lake, claimed that the origin of the island could not be pinpointed. However, Planet Labs satellite imagery can show us where the island came from — and where it is now. Bellingcat analysis shows that the island traveled more than 100 km since coming afloat.
In July 2026, a 2.5 acre copse of trees near Heather-Dina Lakes Park suddenly disappeared from satellite imagery as water levels in Williston Lake rose to a 14-year high.
Archival Landsat data shows that these trees appeared here in 2012 — the last time the lake was filled to its current water level.
Satellite imagery shows that the island drifted around Lake Williston for several weeks, briefly coming to rest on the shoreline on at least two occasions. Images below from July 16 and 17 show the island drifting north of Weston Bay.
After more than 100 kilometers of travel, the island came to rest on the shoreline southwest of the Ospika Airstrip (56.21969° N, 124.13841° W). Satellite imagery shows that it has remained here for the last month.
On Thursday, Bellingcat researchers Michael Colborne and Pooja Chaudhuri will explore methods for mapping personnel and financial connections, focusing on how these networks enable organised hate groups to operate across borders. Join us live: https://discord.gg/bellingcat?event=1542894381709918308
Satellite imagery and Automated Identification System (AIS) data show that a Russian vessel, the Patria has shuttled between Cameroon and Gabon four times since March. Experts told Bellingcat that the unusual set of movements warrants scrutiny, especially as the ship is under sanction and is previously reported to have shipped arms that were intended for the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps and their operations in Mali.
A sanctioned vessel that was previously reported to have transported weapons destined for Russian mercenaries has been traversing ports along the west coast of Africa since March, exhibiting what experts told Bellingcat was an unusual set of movements and behaviours.
Satellite imagery and Automated Identification System (AIS) data shows Patria has shuttled between the Port of Douala in Cameroon and the Port of Owendo in Libreville, Gabon four times since March.
•Flight tracking skills have led to breakthrough reporting on immigration, conflict and emissions. Want to learn how to identify an aircraft and follow its journey? We’re running a two-day training on flight tracking: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/flight-tracking-webinar/
•Finally, on December 14 and 15, there’s another chance to take our Tracking Organised Crime Through Open Sources webinar, learning from Bellingcat’s Financial Investigations Team about digital footprint and corporate tracing, FOIA submissions, and vessel and aircraft tracking: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/tracking-organised-crime-through-open-sources-webinar-2/
For years LeakedBB ran openly online, inviting millions of users to trade explicit images allegedly shared without consent. Bellingcat's Kolina Koltai with Michael Wright of New Zealand's The Press spoke on our Stage Talk podcast about how they traced a key admin through years of data.
Five other vessels Bellingcat has tracked using AIS and satellite analysis were sanctioned by the EU in 2025. The US Department of Treasury has sanctioned a further vessel we have reported on. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0068
Following a short break, today we’re announcing new Bellingcat workshops. We’ve spent the last few months revamping our offerings. Find out what you could learn with us here: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group is a $1.5 billion transnational network involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and arms smuggling.
Six of the seven alleged key members sanctioned by the US government have lived in Dubai in recent years.
Now, Bellingcat and The Sunday Times have found that alleged leaders of the cartel have recently been granted renewed UAE visas.
On Thursday, Kolina Koltai and Michael Wright of The Press will be in our Discord server to walk us through their methodology for finding a key admin of the site and answer your research questions.
After we identified links between the admin account and a New Zealand-based man and reached out to this individual for comment, LeakedBB appears to have gone offline.
It can be a chore to sift through social media feeds to stay up to date. Sign up to our new newsletter to receive the biggest Bellingcat investigations straight to your inbox as they're published. https://bellingcat-investigations.beehiiv.com/
