In the light, reflected from scary sparks and thunderous) sound with deafening edge, made by bombardments simultaneously over multiple cities across Ukraine by Russia (provoked by West and driven to the wall by NATO), many Ukrainians struggle to find a safe passage.
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The UN puts the number as 3 million, the people who have now decamped from Ukraine since Russia unleashed its fiery side and started pounding for more than 3 weeks ago.
These people (women, children and the elderly) still manage to unblock a safe route going out of the heavily-bombarded cities. But how do they manage this amid such a bone-chilling shelling?
For Russia flaunts and implements all types of weapons. From missiles to rockets to grenades to tanks and horrific air assault as SU-27 and Mig-29 jets are seen flying lower than occassional intentionally to intimidate poor Ukrainians and strike the civilian buildings by taking aim at the right angle after making a loop higher in the sky. The ground assualt results in frenzy, screams, cries for rescue and ambulances and rescue vehicles race to the spots with blood and human remains scattered all over.
Among the few options available to them, they can board the secured transport, put in order by friends located in another continent though but who coordinate with lion-hearted bus drivers who are willing to venture inside the shelling zone to bring out the humans struck inside.
Time-honoured saying, if you have the will, you will definitely find a way out and here, this is technology which makes this (otherwise impossible) resuce possible.
Artur Kiulian: Devotion To Serve With Digital Splash:
He is of Ukrainian descent, living and flourishing in US in the capacity of a typical techie and he responded to the calls for rescue and help, vehemently, like a handful of other people.
The call seeking help was made by Mykhailo Fedorov who is Ukraine’s digital minister.
Just like the Bollywood blockbuster Dicso Dancer (1984), where the lead actor Mithun Chakraborty responds to his life’s calling and improves his practice of running fingers on guitar strings to slide through the hardships of life and gains recognition.
Artur applied innovative programming logic to help those stranded in bombardment to drive through to safety and healthcare acces. Through his app, UkraineNow, volunteers uncovered a way and this is a cluster of messaging apps, to evacuate weaker ones stranded in war zone.
He revealed, “I’ve been building tech start-up for the last decade. I’m an engineer myself, I have a degree in systems of articificial intelligence.”
There is a limited capacity (from) the UN and the Red Cross.There is no one else to help. It’s all civilians evacuating civilians”.
Along with other members, he hammered out a deal for the bus, driver and also select a place for them to stay after the victims crosses into the safe heavens (here the country Poland).
In fact, they resort to crowdsourcing and harped upon a safe route for them.
Functional Mechanism:
Initially, repeated help requests were made by Ukrain civilians online. In US, a dedicated team collects such pleas and relay these to buses which are exclusively rented with funds collected at UkrainNow.
Drivers get in touch with them and the noble task of evacuation is programmed.
The precise process is lengthy and the flow of data is not supposed to be disclosed on any public platform online or therwise, for the reasons quite obvious (cyber attacks and personal assault).
BBC did manage to get hold of one such member for helping those grounded.
Salam (an iron-willed soul) who has sought refuge in the past and hence understands the agony Ukrainians confrotn, drove a busload of women, children and elderly into the neighbouring Moldova.
“We have a (group) of women and children that is going to travel to a safe place”.
“And then they can travel from there to wherever they want”.
During the war, he has made 18 bus rounds in and out of many Ukrainian cities.
He confirms, “It’s a dangerous journey. Everybody’s nervous….anything can happen.”The road is completely empty right now. We’re just driving ourselves and we’re far away from the border-so we are in no man’s land here.
“If they stay ubn their citty they wil be bombed. They’re running for their lives.
“We have an amazing team doing everything they can. There’s so many good people on our team that are trying to helps so many people”.
Mr. Salam painted the desperation prevailing in such tense situation.
He said,”There’s a lot of sadness here. A lot of women and children have left their husbands and their fathers, and they don’t know if they’re going to see each other again.
“They just said goodbye and cried, and they left them. You cannot imagine how difficult it is for them.”
Many people have found this app useful and have used this to make their safe exit outside the zone filled with gun-powder and spark.
One of them is Wingshea (name changed to obscure identity) said, “I took this phone number from some group (on the app). I don’t remember exactly”.
She got to know about the app, through others living in her city. Wingshea found leaving the city as Hobson’s Choice.
“We are going to be without food”,she revealed the distress. “We are going to be bombed in our building”.
“I had some work projects, and now they’re frozen, and I cannot work. Of course, I cannot get money. So I need to think about my future life.
I need to survive.”
Meanwhile, kind hearted Mr. Salam drove the bus to the frontier of Moldova and they were safe. But none is certain about the safety and success of future journeys.
This is simply because that the safety routes are narrowed down for now. Previously, one of the routes was heavily bombarded just 10 hours after a bus carrying civilians passed through it.
But Mr Salam is determined, “We’re not going to stop before this war’s going to stop, and people can go back to their homes and be safe”.
“Until that, we need to show our solidarity and do everything we can to save people”.
Tech Fraternity Evolve In The Tough Times:
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Until a month ago, Polina Boichuk was so zealous as she looked forward to a high-profile tech awards convocation due in Ukraine and she was a major part of the arrangments, but life has changed upside-down now.
“It’s awful. This can’t be happening-me, myu family, my friends are all sitting in the basements around the country”, she lamented before BBC.
Truman, a consultancy group considered an awards ceremony which was due in April and invitations were sent to media globally.
But now they pursue the objective of unrolling help and assistance to the needy.
“We don’t think of tech conferences but only tge safety and independence of our country”.
“All the tech companies and start-ups that were nominated for our project are fighting on the cyber-front now”.
In UKraine, about 200 companies have herded into a tech community which is called Lviv IT Cluster headed by Stepen Veselovskyi whose office is now teeming with essential supplies such as meds, bedding and all types of food items.
“Before the war we were a business organization–but now we have transformed into a volunteer organization”.
“Everyone has become a volunteer”.
“Anyone who has a car is taking supplies to other cities, at their own risk”.
Dozens of tech companies have shifted to the west part of Ukraine in the beginning of this month.
“It has saved many lives but also helps companies continue to sell their services”.
“We can’t just sit and be afraid”.
And it is important for the Ukrainian economy if companies are able to deliver”.
Lviv IT Cluster extends succour to the refugees and Mr. Veselovskyi has also engaged around 200 adept cyber security professionals.
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Clearly, the war on ground has now crossed into the cyber arena too.
On the heels of blossoming tech landscape, Ukraine headed to become a major IT centre in east Europe and just last year registered its primary “decacorns” start-ups with a value of over $10 billion.
But for now,they are on a funds-raising spree favouring their army.
In the field, Diia, a premium mobile app seeking donations for Covid-19 vaccinations to be supplied to their army.
Luckily, millions of dollars have been collected so far.
Times Are Tough For Russians: (Tech News Updates In India)
Reported in British media, in most cities, internet connectivity remained pretty steady with providers turning shelters and bunkers into the functional points spreading connectivity.
While Russian as per reports, intended to “misinform Ukrainians and spread fake news online” which entailed forged messages about evacuation plans and making them beleieve that Kyiv was under seige.
Times are hard but Ukranian businesses put resilience on display powered by technology.
Now, in a bid to check mushrooming disinformation, Reface which is a face-swapping app in Ukraine, triggers push notifications alarming its users about the possible Russian attack. It also watermarked its videos with the hashtags #StandWithUkraine.
Parallely, Ajax Systems, another security company in this war-torn country, is brainstorming on an app to send timely alerts to the users about a possible airstrike in their region.
In the meantime, mega tech corporations extend full support to Ukrainian employees.
Uber has ceased operations in the country and is working and want to relocate its employees to safer parts in Ukrain.
Then Lyft gives financial support to those who wish to resgin.
Truly, an economic chaos with social unrest and political instability. For credible tech news updates in India, click on us always.
Interestingly, a website has come up with a different approach in such upheaval. The CEO Andy Kurtzig promises to 50% of the salary to those who would take up arms against the invaders.
He revealed, “many other companies are pulling out of Ukraine and fleeing Ukraine-but that’s exactly what (Russian President) Putin wants”.
“We’re not going to run away”.
At this company, as of now, operations are halted while paid leave continues to be given by the company.
Besides, JustAnswer also faces cyber challenges and in order to keep its infrastructure intact and info unharmed, following measures have been taken by the company:
- Data back-ups on US servers,
- Working on back-up options with internet providers,
- Setting-up communication through the satellite,
- Online info is being transformed into hard copies too,
- Power back-up from generator run on diesel,
Some other companies facilitate relocation of their employees.
There is a web designing company Wix sent its employees in Lithuania to the Poland-Ukraine border to help their Ukrainian colleagues.
Giving the info through twitter, CEO Avishai Abrahami mentioned,”These people have never met before.”
“I’m extremely moves and proud”.
Let’s see how the events unfold in the days to come and let’s hope peace would prevail, while chances are thin.For authentic tech news updates in India, please visit us regularly.
