FBI working with US firms to gather evidence of Russia's war crimes – Reuters

Ukraine is working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and US companies to collect evidence of Russian war crimes, such as geolocation and cell phone information, Reuters reports.

Ukrainian authorities are collecting digital information from battlefields and Ukrainian towns ravaged by the war since Russia invaded the country last February.

"Collection of that data, analysis of that data, working through that data is something the FBI has experience working through," said Alex Kobzanets, a FBI special agent who previously worked as a legal attache for the agency in Ukraine.

He added that work includes looking into cell phone information, forensic analyses of DNA samples, as well as analysis of body parts collected off battlefields.

"The next step is working with national U.S. service providers, and transferring that information...obtaining subscriber information, obtaining geolocation information, where possible," Mr Kobzanets explained.

The work reflects deepening collaboration between the US and Ukraine on the cyber front, where Russia has been a common adversary for both nations, Reuters notes.

The agent added that the FBI had for the past year and a half been working on helping Ukraine to also identify Russian collaborators and spies operating in Ukraine and the Russian forces that were operating outside of Kyiv as the invasion was happening.

Earlier in April, US attorney general Merrick Garland announced a prosecutor would be sent to The Hague to investigate Russia's crimes against Ukraine.