Build custom queries with Search

The search process on the Osavul platform is iterative — you can start with very broad topics and then use our platform to narrow them down to specific incidents. Therefore, we suggest checking the amount of data on this page before creating a case to ensure that you are within your subscription limit.

The search page lets you easily access all the data stored in the Osavul Data Warehouse. By using filters and other settings, you can customize your query before creating a suitable case.

Try your keyword To begin your search, enter a query and press Enter. You'll see how much data on our platform mentions your keyword, shown in the language of the keyword itself. Please note that Osavul specializes in information threats. While we don’t collect all available data, we focus on gathering the most relevant information for your needs. We’re also happy to expand the search based on your keywords, topics, or specific queries.
Check the results Each result represents a separate post, message, video, or comment that mentions your keyword. Alongside the content, you'll find general details such as the content type (e.g., post, comment), the platform it was published on, the publication date and time, the number of subscribers or followers of the source, and the name or nickname of the author.

You can click the icon to view the original publication on its native platform. Please note that some content may have been removed by the platform — often due to authenticity concerns. In such cases, you see an archived version of the publication on Osavul, and we are not deleting the data.

Customize your keywords Scroll through the results to explore the data. You might encounter some irrelevant results—these can help you refine your query for better accuracy. Use search operators to customize your search:
- Broad topics

To monitor broad topics, it is enough to use simple keywords - names of people, names of organizations, thematic markers. For example: energy, oil, Trump. The results will cover everything related to the keywords used, but will contain many messages.

Specific topics

To focus on specific topics and reduce irrelevant results, it is important to limit the search.

Osavul offers the following operators to help you build your search queries:

Operator	Description	Example
`Ukraine`	Use `Ukraine` as a keyword to find all forms of the word, including grammatical variations (in languages that use noun cases)	`Russia` or `russia` return te same results. The search is not case sensitive.
`AND` ,`&`	Use `AND` to find results that include all the words you search for.	Ukraine `AND` Great Britain `AND` USA
`OR`	Use `OR` to find at least one of the search matching terms.	Kyiv `OR` Kiev `OR` Ukrainian capital `OR` capital of Ukraine
`NEAR/x`	Use `NEAR/x` **to find mentions where two or more keywords appear within a specified proximity to each other.
(default value for x: 10)	Ukraine `NEAR/2` Great Britain
((Ukraine`AND` Kyiv)`NEAR/5` ***Great Britain)
(Ukraine* `OR` Kyiv)`NEAR/3`(Great Britain`OR` London)**
`ONEAR/x`	The `NEAR/x` operator does not consider the order of keywords—only their proximity. Use `ONEAR/x` **to respect the order of keywords.	Ukraine `ONEAR/2` Great Britain
((Ukraine`AND` Kyiv)`ONEAR/5` ***Great Britain)
(Ukraine* `OR` Kyiv)`ONEAR/3`(Great Britain`OR` London)**
`AND NOT`, `&!`	Use `AND NOT` to remove results that include a specific word or group of words.	(Ukraine `AND` Great Britain `AND` USA) `AND NOT` (Russia `OR` Belarus)
`()`	Use parentheses `()` in search queries to group words or operators together, controlling the search order and making your query more precise.	(Kyiv `AND` Zelensky) `OR` Klitschko or Kyiv `AND` (Zelensky `OR` Klitschko)
`>`	Use `>` to specify how many words from an OR group must appear in the results.	(tank `OR`gun `OR` armored personnel carrier `OR` multiple rocket launcher `OR` howitzer) `>`3
`""`	Use quotation marks `""` to search for an exact match. This means the search will find only texts where the words appear exactly as you typed them, without variations or different forms.	a single word search `"`counterattack`"`or
****a phrase search **`"`military casualties**`"`
`*`	Use `*` to search for words with any ending. The search will match all words that start with the letters you typed.	`` tball* returns **streetball, football, basketball
`[]`	Use `[]` to find words that start the same but have a short ending.	Rus`[4]` ****returns Russia, Russian but not russification, russophobia** (because those endings are longer than 4)
*`~`*	Use *`~`* to search for words that appear close to each other, allowing only a limited number of other words in between.	`"`war news`"` `~4` ***will find war news, news about the war, news about the Russian-Ukrainian war*.
*`@`*	Use *`@`* to set the maximum number of words allowed between keywords.	`"`counter`` Ukrain`` `"` `@3` ****will find counteroffensive of Ukraine, Ukrainian counterattack, counteroffensive actions by Ukraine, Ukraine is successful in counteroffensiv**

Useful examples:

military casualties ******is a few-word query. Use military casualties to find messages where these words are next to each other.
"military casualties" is an exact match of the expression, without word forms. Use "military casualties" to find an exact match—only results with those exact words, in that exact form, will be shown.
"defense strategy"~4 is an exact expression that allows no more than 4 other words between the words in the query. Such a query will find, for example, "strategy for national defense" or "developing a modern defense and security strategy". Useful when we want to expand the results due to cases where the words are not next to each other. Any number can be entered instead of 4.
"cyber* threat*"@2 is an exact expression that returns results where words beginning with “cyber” and “threat” appear within 2 words of each other, in any order. For example, it can match phrases like “cybersecurity threat,” “threat of cyberattacks,” or “cyber-related national threats.” The phrase can appear in various contexts, and you can replace 2 with any number to adjust the word distance.

Try the Multilingual Search Once you’ve refined your query using operators, try the Multilingual Search feature. Simply check the box above the search bar and press Enter again. Your keywords will be automatically translated, and the system will return results in all supported languages that match those keywords.

To read results in unfamiliar languages, click the translation icon next to each message. By default, translations are shown in English, but you can change your preferred language in your user account by clicking your name in the top right corner of the screen.

Keep in mind that while multilingual search significantly broadens your results, it may require some trial and error. For instance, proper names — especially surnames — may yield irrelevant matches when translated. That’s why this preliminary search page exists: to help you identify the most effective keywords and filters before creating a case.