Who we are

What is witnesses database?

DATTALION collects a database of witnesses of war from across Ukraine. The database contains witnesses’ depersonalized profiles including their personal and professional background, details of age, sex, the language spoken. We also provide each profile with a tag for easier navigation.

Among the tags you’ll find “Volunteering”, “Shelling”, “Destruction of home”, “Occupation”, “Lack of food/water”, “Injuries”, “Sexual violence”, “Loss of loved ones”.

We also mark if the person has photos/videos of the atrocities they had to go through, and strive to include these in DATTALION database. Our team checks to make sure the witnesses are able to speak under the pressure of a live interview, as well as checking their language skills to see if the witness might tell his/her story on TV- or radio Live.

For security reasons eyewitnesses are not named and some personal details are obscured. DATTALION will arrange interviews and meetings with witnesses upon request. DATTALION provides a meeting with the witness only after verifying the journalist (see the procedure below).

Who we are

How witnesses are protected

We are working in war conditions, so most witnesses must remain anonymous until we know for sure with whom we are sharing the information. The public identification of witnesses and those distributing and collecting the content could put them and their families in danger. The personal safety of our contributors is our highest priority.

While in most cases we expect that witnesses will disclose their first and last names to journalists, some will need to use a pseudonym, or choose to speak anonymously. We will be very clear with journalists upfront on any terms.

To get access to the witness’s personal information

1
Verify your media

We protect our witnesses because the war is not only physical, but also digital and informational. Thus, we will share the personal information of the witness only after we verify the identity of the journalist and the media he/she represents.

For the verification, please

2
Get connected

After processing the questionnaire, and verifying the credentials of the request, we will send the detailed information about the witness and arrange the connection between a journalist and a witness.

Witnesses' stories collection

Stories in this database are told by people from all regions of Ukraine, who have witnessed the atrocities caused by russian full scale invasion. They have volunteered to tell their stories and we update the database every day. We are in the process of obtaining formal written consent from each witness in this database, and we will only grant journalists access to witnesses for whom we have this formal consent.