Two months have passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. What for Putin was going to be solved with a lightning war, as in Georgia in 2008 (a conflict that was resolved in 12 days), in Ukraine seems to have run aground. Hostilities intensify on the front and the Ukrainian civilian population try to help with the few resources you have at hand.
And as necessity sharpens ingenuity, many civilians are taking advantage of everyday situations and tools as battle gadgets against the Russian army. Toy drones turned into war machines, little dogs that detect mines, apps like Tinder o Findmy to locate enemy positions or neighborhood Telegram groups to rat out the enemy. These are some of the ideas that are taking shape among the Ukrainian population that has not fled the country and has stayed to resist.
The case of geolocations through social networks it is happening especially in apps to find a partner. The first known case was that of Dasha Synelnikova, a 33-year-old Ukrainian woman living in kyiv who told his story to The Sun. She revealed that several Russian soldiers had contacted her through the app. He was thus able to see that the invader who was prowling around her was very close to the city of Kharkov.
“I live in kyiv, but I changed my location to Kharkov as recommended by my friendsto check if the troops had already arrived there,” the woman explained, counting at least a dozen Russian soldiers who wrote to her, many of them 20 kilometers away. That they revealed their geographical position and that they posed with weapons in their hands. That was how they were able to locate those troops. Dasha even had a conversation with one of them. Andrei, 31 years old, who explained to him even the city of origin of him.
hunted by instagram
It is not the first time that social networks have made life difficult for soldiers in a war. William Colomdoctor in International Security, tells THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAINa medium that belongs to the same editorial group as this newspaper, that this situation already occurred in the previous conflict between Ukraine and Russia back in 2014: “The inappropriate use of social networks by Russian soldiers compromised some operation and cast doubt Moscow’s official version of its non-involvement in the conflict In this sense, the photographs shared by soldier Alexander Sotkinen on his Instagram account geolocated him within the Ukrainian borders, more specifically between the towns of Krasna Talycha and Krasny Derkul, both controlled by rebel forces Other soldiers, such as Vladislav Laptev or Mikhail Chugunov, posted on their VKontkte profile (a Russian social network similar to Facebook) photographs of Russian military convoys moving to the Ukrainian border or posts claiming that they ‘fired all night on Ukraine'”.
In the same line of geolocation, there is an apple app that allows you to do GPS tracking of the products of this brand, and which is also being used in this conflict. An application designed to locate a computer, a phone or even a headset in case of theft. In this context of war, some Russian soldiers looted the cities they invaded, seizing some of these Apple products. This is how some soldiers who had stolen wireless helmets were located, As explained by the Belarusian politician and journalist Franak Viacorka, who even uploaded the location of some stolen airpods to his Twitter account.
Ukrainians are locating their devices on the territory of the Homiel region, Belarus, where part of the Russian army retreated. pic.twitter.com/JsdhltRZ5E
— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) April 5, 2022
neighborhood telegram
The most popular messaging application in the area where the conflict is taking place is Telegram, which is an app developed in Russia. One of its characteristics that differentiates it from WhatsApp is that it has channels where information can be shared. The Ukrainian resistance has found in these spaces a place to give clues about the enemy.
“The government set up channels for citizens to notify of the movements of Russian troops. They were proud that a certain convoy with ammunition trucks from the BM-27 Uragan rocket launcher had been reported by many residents of the same street,” Jesús Manuel Pérez, security and defense analyst and author of the blog, tells this newspaper Postmodern Wars.
“People from the Ukrainian community tell me that in many towns people have set up Telegram groups to help each other and report on Russian movements. There was even a reporter from ‘Der Spiegel’, Christoph Reuterwhat documented Russian atrocities in an occupied town and he said that the soldiers took the cell phones from the Ukrainian civilians to check the apps and messages,” Pérez continues.
domestic drones
“Do you have a drone? Give it to an experienced pilot! Do you know how to fly it yourself? Then join Unit 112 of the Kyiv Special Brigade!”
That was the slogan of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in a publication that was uploaded to your facebook account last February 24. urged all drone owners in the country to use them as tools of war. This conflict between Russia and Ukraine is being characterized by the use of military drones as instruments to spy or guide missiles or even bomb. there is one called The Punisher which is proving especially effective when it comes to bombing without being detected, given its small size. The price of these drones amounts to about 200,000 euros.
But from the Ukrainian government they also saw the possibilities of domestic drones as a resource for the resistance. Devices from 100 euros that have not been designed for battle, but that many civilians had in their homes and can be used to spy. “Any civil drone of a certain level, well stabilized and with good cameras, can cost 500 or 700 euros, which is a brutal difference with the military,” explains Alejandro Millán of the military blog By land, sea and air.“Typical 4-rotor drones are very useful in reconnaissance and surveillance missions. Keep in mind that their navigation and communication systems with the pilot could be easily disturbed. But they can be modified with parts that can be purchased at online model airplane stores, but also on Aliexpress, to incorporate fairly secure communication systems against interference”, he continues.
Alejandro reminds that “obviously a civilian drone is not the same, it does not have the same capabilities as the military. But if you put an air fleet of thousands of cheap civilian drones, which are very difficult to detect and shoot down, to support your troops on surveillance tasks, in urban and peri-urban environments, from homes, can contribute to supporting your army. The enemy is overflown by a myriad of drones that do not even know where they are coming from.
It should be remembered that the Ukrainian army has a specialized unit of military drones, called aerorozvidka, which was created after the Crimean War. However, the use of civilian drones also has a negative counterpoint for the user: some of the Ukrainian owners used some DJI brand drones, which has a geolocation system. The Russians knew how to use software to locate the pilots of these drones and bomb them. Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, denounced this situation publicly asking the drone company to “block their products, as they are helping Russia to kill children and civilians”.
In 21 days of the war, Russian troops have already killed 100 Ukrainian children. they are using DJI products in order to navigate their missile. @DJIGlobal are you sure you want to be a partner in these murders? Block your products that are helping Russia to kill the Ukrainians! pic.twitter.com/4HJcTXFxoY
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 16, 2022
bombs and cheese
Finally, one of the main fears of the Ukrainian authorities is the state of the cities that have been attacked by the Russians. In their surroundings they usually leave what the Ukrainians call “gifts from the Russians”which are nothing more than anti-personnel mines with which they sow the less devastated areas of the cities and their surroundings.
- To identify them, Ukraine has resorted to dogs trained in these luck. Especially one named Patron has become a canine war hero. He is a specimen of the breed Jack Russell Terrier, he is only two years old and has been trained to find mines. His reduced weight means that explosives do not detonate in the path of him. And the ease with which, according to the Ukrainian authorities, he detects gunpowder, has made this specimen one more force of the army in the punished areas.
Patron is the mascot of the Chernigov bomb squad, which They explained to the Daily Mail that they reward him by giving him cheese. The characteristics of this breed of dogs have made them the most sought-after specimens to teach them to locate mines in the subsoil. In the absence of other more expensive detection systems, and given the urgency of the situation, these small dogs perform the same function to serve the Ukrainian army.