Tech & War in Ukraine | dev.ua

A Turkish-designed Bayraktar TB2 drone called “Vanagas” (“Hawk”), which Turkey pledged to Ukraine free of charge after raising nearly €6 million for it by Lithuanians, has arrived to Lithuania. With all the bought ammunition, it is expected to be sent to Ukraine soon, the country's Minister of Defence, Arvydas Anusauskas, wrote on Twitter.

Twitter banned Russia’s space agency chief for inciting hatred Twitter has banned Dmitry Rogozin for a hateful tweet about Ukraine, the head of Russia’s space agency posted on Telegram. In that tweet, Rogozin called Ukraine “an existential threat to the Russian people” and urged to “bring an end to this once and for all.” If not removed, his account with 808,000 followers will face permanent suspension. Rogozin, whose passion for poetry as well as singing self-written songs oftenly prompts mockery in Russia, wrote he had used Twitter to debate with Western media outlets and official accounts of NATO and the EU.“ “Unfortunately, Twitter has turned into a trash heap, a place for extremists to voice and a conduit for anti-Russian propaganda,” he claimed. “I do not find it incorrect. I am not going to tap the ‘delete’ button.” @devukraine

Hi everyone. Ouf of the topic, DEV Ukraine turs one year this week. Being born in the pandemic, we have accelerated our capacity to the maximum to keep reporting on the agenda now, in the war. Having to fit into the times we are living in, on the occasion of our first, and hopefully last, wartime Birthday, we have launched a fundraising campaign for a volunteer unit whose Scat power banks are much in demand among Ukrainian defenders. Artem Belenkov, the founder of agritech SmartFarming, leads the project. If you are in, here are the details to donate: – Monobank: click here – PrivatBank (UAH): 4731 1856 2098 0091 Mariia Brovinska – PrivatBank (USD): 4731 1856 3103 6487 Mariia Brovinska – PayPal: [email protected] – Crypto wallet codes: 0x4561b3D559f1FA71E0c963a2e96F7240FbBc66fe The accounts belong to our editorial team members. Not to mention, we already see awesome support from our audience and beyond. But the more we are united the more we can do 🇺🇦 @devukraine

Kyivstar, the largest Ukrainian mobile operator, is losing subscribers but not hope It is minus 1 million of the preinvasion 26 million users, and the pool is shrinking, Kyivstar President Alexander Komarov told Forbes. Those people have disconnected from roaming overseas or are residents of the areas under Russian control, where its network is being maintained autonomously. The situation in the southern Kherson region is illustrative. Only 2% of Kyivstar base stations have remained in operation here. No access to repair. Russians disabled the power supplies. “Most likely, we will lose the connections in the temporarily occupied territories,” he conceded. Kyivstar has recorded billions of hryvnias in damages since the invasion, according to Komarov. Despite a gloomy revenue forecast, he hopes for the better on the front line and says that now Kyivstar is sinking its money into keeping signals working. “While Russians are destroying, we have to restore.” @devukraine

Electric vehicles sales are soaring as fuel crisis continues More Ukrainians are buying electric vehicles, moving away from fuel-powered cars, as the country continues to suffer from petrol shortages. In May, the number of EV registrations shot up by 67% compared to regular figures, according to Ukrautoprom. A total of 3090 EVs being bought in the January-May period set a record, with a 2.5% jump over the corresponding period of the last year. The NISSAN Leaf was the best-selling model while the TESLA Model 3 slipped to second. The VOLKSWAGEN e-Golf owned the third-largest market share. Being severely affected by the fuel crisis, some people are making the switch to more affordable alternatives like mobility scooters, segways, electric bikes and kick scooters. In May, electric means of transport sales surged 66.6%, said Vladyslav Chechotkin, co-founder at Rozetka, Ukraine’s online marketplace. But the country is clearly undergoing a lack of supplies and a slow trade flow from China, he said. @devukraine

Here is what to catch up on as of the end of the week • Ukraine’s technology industry may get an extra $1 billion in export earnings, GlobalLogic experts estimate, resulting from the continuing Russian technology market downturn. • The car manufacturer Skoda Auto AS has partially moved its production of cable harnesses from Ukraine to Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, in a bid to protect itself from supply-chain shocks. • Palantir Technologies, an American data analysis company and a contractor of the country's military organisations, has declared its intention to partner with Ukraine in the field of defence and security after its CEO Alex Karp's meeting with President Zelenskyy; establishing a local branch is also possible. • Facebook’s Meta has pledged $1.5 million for supporting small and medium-sized businesses from Ukraine; they will benefit from advertising opportunities. • In Estonia, a Russian Estonian dual citizen was arrested for trying to export commercial drones and hand them over to the Russian army. @devukraine

Turkey to gift a Bayraktar drone to Ukraine after Lithuanians €6 million effort to buy it Turkey will provide Ukraine with a Bayraktar drone for free, Lithuania's Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anusauskas tweeted on Thursday. Until today, the Lithuanian government has been negotiating the purchase of it for the money collected by Lithuanians in an online campaign. Lithuanian journalist and TV presenter Andrius Tapinas launched a fundraising campaign to buy a Bayraktar TB2 military drone for Ukraine on May 25th, intending to collect €5 million in three weeks. But the money was flowing in so fast that three days were enough to get even more. As a result of Turkey’s reverence for what has been done, the gathered money, about €6 million, will go towards the needed ammunition for the Bayraktar as well as ongoing support for Ukraine. @devukraine

US has been supporting Ukraine with 'offensive' cyber operations, top general reveals The top US cyber official revealed that the US has conducted "offensive" cyber operations supporting Ukraine as it battles Russia, Insider reports. During his discussion with British media outlet Sky News, US Army General Paul Nakasone said that "we've conducted a series of operations across the full spectrum; offensive, defensive, [and] information operations." The targets of these operations were not specified. Additionally, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that Russia is taking "specific preparatory steps" to carry out damaging attacks. Wray told a Boston College cyber security conference Wednesday that Russia's strikes are becoming "more destructive as the war keeps going poorly," Dustin Volz, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, cited Wray on Twitter. @devukraine

Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund announced the first recipients These are Ukraine-based startups that will receive an up to $100,000 allocation in non-dilutive funding as well as ongoing Google mentorship as part of its support effort: Almexoft, CareTech Human, Discoperi, Dots Platform, Elai.io, Effy.ai, Handy.ai, Lab24, Mindly, PRAVOSUD, pleso therapy, Private Tech Network, Releaf Paper, Skyworker, VanOnGo, ZooZy, and Respeecher. In April, we spoke to the Respeecher team, the developer of a high-fidelity voice cloning system that allows to convert the voice of one person into the voice of another. It was on everyone's lips after Maye Musk addressed her Twitter audience in Ukrainian with the help of Respeecher's AI technology. Soon after that Respeecher was up to Avoe Blacc's video in which he was performing Avicii's ‘Wake Me Up’ on the fourth anniversary of the late DJ’s death. Read the full story of Respeecher. @devukraine

Losing customers. Market turmoil. Ties to Russia. IT workers share their fears Here are some quotes received by @dou_editors in the survey. The pullout of foreign customers: “It upsets me that foreign investors of companies may refuse to hire in Ukraine due to a risk of deaths among employees;” “when landing a job, candidates can be required to relocate as the war may enter a more raging phase.” Pay cuts and fierce competition: “The [technology] market is feared to shrink since there could be fewer companies, fewer developers, lower demand for them, and tough competition in terms of the number of applicants per vacancy,” “there is no chance to leave the country, and falling salaries are reasonably expected.” Skill degradation amid long-standing mobilization: “[The fear is that I will] become lacked the professional experience during serving the armed forces;” “[I'm worried about] losing my contract with the employer and having to start all over again.” Ties to Russia: “It is compulsory to use the Russian language in communication within the company that would be evidence that it is pro-Russian.” @devukraine