Civilian Surveillance in the War in Ukraine: Mobilizing the Agency of the Observers of War

The war in Ukraine sees local and foreign civilians play active roles in the conflict, mainly through the participatory gathering and sharing of intelligence and open-source investigations of alleged human rights violations and war crimes. These surveillance practices seen in the war in Ukraine are not novel. Vigilantism campaigns have normalized since the War on Terror, while open-source information is increasingly recognized as a legitimate tool for human rights and international criminal justice investigation. Yet, their importance in the war in Ukraine highlights the agentic power of civilian surveillance. The proliferation of digital technologies empowers civilians to become inevitable actors in all spheres of politics, including war. However, across these practices, I argue that the Ukrainian government and its Western allies harness this agency as operational and narrative weapons. Patriotism and morality are pushed forward to mobilize individuals to participate in the war despite the risks that vigilantes and open-source investigators have to assume: risks of retaliation by Russian forces and lost independence.