It’s a weekend, a sunny summer day. Surrounded by a pond and a field is a base station, which connects thousands of Ukrainians in the south. A car arrives and three engineers get out. Instead of vacationing with their families, they are going back to work. A trench has
Destroyed apartments, burnt-out cars, lives upturned or extinguished altogether: Russia’s June 13 missile attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih was, in many ways, nothing out of the ordinary for wartime Ukraine. The evening after the attack, which killed 13 civilians, President Volodymyr Zelensky came out in his daily
Before Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 27-year-old engineer Maxim Sheremet was engaged in the manufacturing of commercial drones. He worked for the state defense company Ukroboronprom, a strategic manufacturer of weapons and military hardware in Ukraine, and later at Evolve Dynamics, a U.K. engineering company specializing in
Editor's Note: This story was sponsored by the Ukraine-founded international tech service company SupportYourApp. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the international tech service company SupportYourApp, founded in Kyiv, wasn’t sure what would happen to its business. Its clients were worried: How would the company provide its services when its own
U.S. tech giant Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, no longer designates Ukraine’s Azov Regiment as a “dangerous organization.” This means that Azov Regiment members will be allowed to have accounts on Meta platforms, while content posted by other users about Azov Regiment will no longer
Editor's Note: This story was sponsored by the Ukrainian software development company Kitrum. Ukrainian tech entrepreneur Vlad Kytainyk, 34, has spent substantial time in the U.S. building his global business in the past seven years. Still, he has no intentions of settling there for good. “I'm a Ukrainian on
Editor's Note: This story was sponsored by Ukrainian tech company Merge. Ukrainian Pavel Tseluyko is not your typical CEO. A 21-year-old college drop out, he is running his tech company Merge in the middle of both a war and global financial crisis. Despite all the challenges, Tseluyko says business is
Editor's note: Ivan Tolchinsky visited Ukraine in October to speak at the IT Arena, Ukraine's major technology conference held at the Lviv National Opera on Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Despite the war, the event featured speakers from around the world, including Tolchinsky, US cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter, Draganfly CEO Cameron Chell,
Europe's largest technology conference, Web Summit, sparked a raft of criticism in Ukraine when it invited pro-Russian speakers to its event in Lisbon in November. Among Web Summit’s controversial invitees were Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate, journalists at The Grayzone, a far-left news website known for its misleading reporting
Mykhailo Fedorov and his team “make things happen,” Time magazine wrote when it selected Fedorov as one of its 100 emerging world leaders in September. “It is like it is in his DNA to take action,” his profile read. Fedorov, Ukraine’s 31-year-old deputy prime minister and minister of digital
Ukrainian comedian turned politician Serhiy Prytula said spending the $17 million fundraised by Ukrainians to purchase a satellite from the Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE was a “great decision.” Ukraine’s military is satisfied with the data provided by the satellite, Prytula said.
Editor’s Note: This story includes interviews with people living under Russian occupation. Their full names are not disclosed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Every time Ukrainian engineer Yevhen wants to connect to the internet, he
A New York-based firm FF Venture Capital launched a $30 million fund to support Ukrainian-founded startups. The Blue & Yellow Heritage fund is reportedly the first Western venture capital fund focused exclusively on the Ukrainian startup market. Over the next five to 10 years, the fund will invest in 15-20 early-stage
Among the Ukrainian military, Elon Musk, the richest tech entrepreneur in the U.S., is often half-jokingly referred to as “Saint Elon.” The reason is Starlink, Musk’s satellite communication system that keeps many Ukrainians, most importantly the military, online despite power outages and Russia’s attacks on the country's
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has relied on foreign partners when it comes to space intelligence. Ukraine doesn’t have its own satellite in orbit. That is why it requests satellite imagery from its allies in order to track Russian troop movements and document Russia’s
There is a dilemma dividing Ukrainian society: whether to allow the country’s male tech specialists to temporarily leave the country during the war. Martial law, introduced on Feb. 24 and extended until Nov. 21, prohibits Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country, except
Nude photos are an art form with the power to raise money for the military. At least that is the philosophy behind the movement Teronlyfans, founded by Ukrainian artist Anastasiya Kuchmenko, 26, and Belarusian native Nastya Nasko, 23. Teronlyfans is a combination of two words – Ukraine’s territorial defense force,
In his native Belarus, 30-year-old tech entrepreneur Andrey Poznyak was once a political prisoner. He spent six months behind bars for protesting Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on civil society following fraudulent elections in 2020. Poznyak later made his way to Ukraine, along with thousands of fellow techies,
The global crypto boom is over, which should have been bad news for Ukraine. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian charities have raised more than $125 million in cryptocurrency donations to spend on military equipment or humanitarian aid. Another $1.2 million came from the sale of non-fungible
Hackers attacked one of Ukraine’s largest radio networks, TavrMedia, on July 21, broadcasting fake news about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s alleged health problems, according to Ukraine’s security officials. Unidentified hackers broadcasted reports that Zelensky was in an intensive care ward and that his duties were being temporarily performed
Unlike Ukraine's manufacturing plants, warehouses and stores, many of which lie in ruins, its IT sector has had much better luck. The tech industry reacted with lightning speed to the new reality dictated by Russia's all-out war against Ukraine. Early in the invasion and even before it, companies started to
On Feb. 8, the Diia City, a special legal and tax regime for IT businesses, came into force. With Diia City, the government wants to raise the share of the IT sector in the country's gross domestic product to 10% from the current 4%. As of Feb. 11, three days
The frequency of a suspected Russian military shortwave radio broadcast, known as the “buzzer” for its recognizable repeating channel marker, has become the battleground for rival Russian and Ukrainian radio enthusiasts, who have been attempting to hijack the frequency to play memes and propaganda. The UBV-76 transmission, which can be
Spanish food delivery service Glovo has signed an acquisition deal with the Ukraine-based grocery delivery service Zakaz.ua, Ukrainian tech media Ain.ua reported on Jan. 21. The companies didn't disclose the acquisition cost, but according to experts' estimates, the negotiations could have started at $15-20 million and shouldn't have
The U.S. cellphone chip manufacturer Qualcomm has acquired Ukraine-founded startup Augmented Pixels for an undisclosed amount, Forbes Ukraine reported on Jan. 15. Augmented Pixels, founded by Ukrainian Vitaliy Goncharuk, develops virtual and augmented reality software. The company hasn't yet published an official statement about the acquisition, but it changed
On New Year's night, Dec. 31, thousands of people flocked to Dubai downtown to see a futuristic laser show displayed on the walls of the world's highest building – Burj Khalifa. The company responsible for this show is Ukrainian Magic Innovations that claims that they are the first Ukrainians to have
Venture funding in Ukrainian startups hit an all-time high in 2021. Startups with Ukrainian founders attracted a record $1.5 billion from local and foreign investors in 2021, according to the Kyiv Independent’s estimates, compared to $577 million last year. The actual number could be even higher as dozens
The contemporary history of the post-Soviet countries in Eurasia is the history of resource-oriented economies. These countries used to export what they managed to mine or grow. But now, the situation is starting to change. Not because they are running out of resources – the Stone Age came to an end
When Ukrainian tech entrepreneur Dima Shvets was a child, he wanted to "get inside a movie" – become an actor or a favorite character. With the mobile app called Reface, which Shvets and his friends cofounded in 2020, his dream has finally come true. Reface uses technology called deepfake that allows
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 18 signed a bill creating a special taxation system for tech firms. Bill №5676, approved by the parliament on Dec. 14, is the second of three laws that are necessary to create the Diia City system. Diia City is a collection of tax, employment and
Ukrainian startup Awesomic has attracted $2 million of investment to grow its service, which matches web designers with online businesses, according to its co-founder Stacy Pavlyshyna. Awesomic wants to use the money to expand its team to 50 people and attract more designers to its website. Among the company's investors
From January 2022, Ukraine will apply a 20% tax on web-based services provided by foreign tech firms. According to the law, passed by parliament in June, foreign tech companies have to pay a 20% value-added tax, or VAT, for digital services they provide to local users. The law targets products
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