Who to follow to help cut through the misinformation

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine early Thursday, staging an assault on the country from three sides: the northern, eastern, and southern borders, NPR reports. Before dawn, Russian forces attacked locations near Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles, and are using long-range artillery against targets in Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city near the Russian border, according to CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law, but urged the public to remain calm. 

“The most important message is that Ukraine is united, we are strong,” he said Thursday morning in a public address. “We are optimistic. We are looking into the future with wide open eyes, and we shall overcome.”

A map of Ukraine showing its border with Russia.
Credit: Getty / DigitalVision Vectors

As Russian military forces and Russian-backed separatists strike targets across Ukraine, it can be difficult to ensure you’re receiving the full breadth of information at hand. There is an ongoing joke that every time something big happens geopolitically, people on the internet take on overconfident stances as experts — and that can lead to the spread of misinformation. Russia is also a country known for spreading misinformation to sow panic and confusion for its benefit.

The internet is full of grifters who rely on our basic trust to amplify their message, whether it’s dipped in truth or not. On TikTok, for instance, some users are saying that they are livestreaming the “Ukrainian invasion” and asking for donations — but the videos they’re posting are actually just shots of houses in the U.K. dubbed with sirens and gunshots, according to a report from NBC. So it’s important to navigate this time with care.

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If you’re following along with what the New York Times has called the “most significant European war in almost 80 years,” there are plenty of trustworthy experts to listen to so that you can understand what is happening in Ukraine. Here are some of our favorites, on a variety of platforms.

Fact checking the Russian attack on Ukraine

Even if you think you’re following reports from reputable sources, it’s still important to do your due diligence and fact check it yourself. Here are some pointers on how to do that:

Live Blogs

Some news organizations put together live blogs of the news coming out of Russia and Ukraine. There are plenty of trusted news organizations that are live blogging the war in other languages — like elDiario in Spanish or Le Monde in French. But here are some of the English-language sites we’re following:

TV stations

If you want to see how different new sources are covering the invasion at the same time, Matt Taylor of the Financial Times put together a screening room with streams of coverage from BBC News, Sky News, NBC, CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera, and more.

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Twitter accounts 

You can, of course, follow trustworthy news sources on Twitter to get more information about the war, and there are a few well-curated lists of journalists covering the invasion. If you’re looking for individual journalists to follow on Twitter, here are a few we’ve been watching:

• Igor Kossov, a journalist in Kyiv

• Nick Beake, the BBC News Europe correspondent

• Eleanor Beardsley, an NPR Paris correspondent currently reporting from Ukraine

• Christo Grozev, the executive director of Bellingcat 

• Tim Mak, an NPR investigative correspondent currently reporting from Kyiv

• Nic Robertson, reporting from Moscow for CNN

• Kristina Berdynskykh, a journalist in Kyiv

• Nika Melkozerova, the executive editor of New Voice Ukraine

• Marichka Varenikova, a journalist in Kyiv

• Olga Tokariuk, a correspondent for EFE Noticias in Kyiv

• Olga Rudenko, the chief editor of the Kyiv Independent

• Katerina Sergatskova, the editor-in-chief of Zaborona Media in Kyiv

• Isobel Koshiw, a journalist in Kyiv

• Nataliya Gumenyuk, a journalist in Kyiv

• Tanya Kozyreva, a journalist in Ukraine

• Frank Langfitt, an NPR London correspondent currently reporting from Ukraine

• Nataliya Gumenyuk, a journalist in Kyiv

• Michael McFaul, a Standford professor and former U.S. ambassador to Russia

Regardless of how you get your news, staying abreast with the goings on in Europe now — and ensuring that you don’t contribute to the spread of misinformation — is ever-important.