EU Advisory Mission and Sweden support Ukraine in investigating international crimes

The European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) Ukraine has supported the Swedish National Police in donating Noggin radar equipment to the National Police of Ukraine. The highly specialised equipment increases Ukraine’s capacity to find and collect evidence linked to international crimes.

“Bucha in the Kyiv region, Izium in the Kharkiv region, Lyman in the Donetsk region are just a few places in Ukraine where mass graves have been found after liberation from Russian occupation in 2022. Findings at these sites have provided important evidence for investigations into war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law,” EUAM said in a press release. “Finding buried bodies is a complex task which requires specialised equipment.”

The ground-penetrating Noggin radar can help to locate objects beneath the ground, such as potential mass graves. Comparable to luggage scanners used at airports, the equipment detects different objects. But instead of showing the inside of luggage, it can see underground through stones, sand, soil and mud to find buried objects which can include bodies and body parts.

Comparable to images produced by an ultrasound or an X-ray machine, the radar shows contrasts and shades of the underground. The search usually starts with intelligence or information about things being hidden in the soil or buried in the ground. Noggin is then used to do detailed searches in specific areas, and pictures are taken from above the ground.

The analysis of pictures will be done by a team of Ukrainian specialists trained in Sweden earlier this April.

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Press release