The US State Department has announced a new programme to capture and analyze evidence of Russian-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.

The Conflict Observatory aims to document, verify and disseminate open-source evidence of the actions of Russian forces during the invasion of Ukraine.

Under the programme, the US State Department will gather satellite imagery and information shared via social media as part of a broader effort to hold Russia accountable for any war crimes.

An online platform will publicly share the gathered information to help refute any attempt at disinformation by the Russian government, the State Department said.