Russian information-warfare techniques are often first tested in Ukraine and then adapted for Germany and other European countries. Disinformation Autopsy Lab brings together Ukrainian and German experts to change the rules of the game: not merely debunking fakes after they appear, but detecting threats at an early stage.

The project is already underway. On 27–29 May, the first joint laboratory for Ukrainian and German media experts and researchers took place in Berlin. Participants exchanged practical experience in countering digital attacks and began developing a shared methodology for the forensic analysis of disinformation campaigns.

Over nine months, joint “information detective teams” will investigate eight major campaigns targeting Ukrainian audiences in 2022–2025. They will trace the digital footprints of the attacks, identify psychological triggers, and determine how manipulative narratives are disguised and migrate from one platform to another. Special attention will be given to gendered disinformation and information attacks against Ukrainian women refugees.

What lies ahead: research, training workshops in Kyiv and Berlin, testing of tools in real-world scenarios, and a final War Room simulation.

The outcomes will include eight open threat playbooks, a multilingual toolkit for protection against disinformation, and practical recommendations for Ukraine, Germany, and the EU.

The project is implemented by Comparative Research Network e.V. (Germany) and the Ukrainian “Network for Development” (UNAEDI), with support from the German Federal Foreign Office. Its goal is to turn Ukraine’s experience in countering information warfare into an effective early-warning system for all of Europe.