The conflict between Russians and Ukrainians is also a technological war: Even in the recent past in Crimea or Iraq, the same technology was not in use as it is today. And not just for guns, drones and the latest tanks and so on. Smartphones also play a strategic role, and the residents of Kyiv who managed to stop the strongest Russian army from advancing, forcing them to change plans and objectives.
Telegram and Google map
Ambushes and sabotage bought the Zelensk soldiers time. An illuminating story of how important technology is in 2022 comes from an electronics engineer working for Samsung, whose trap handles the Russians, connecting me with a chat on Telegram with all the information about the intruders. He then used Google Maps to identify a specific point on the map, photographed it and sent it to everyone he knows. Half an hour later, a Russian convoy entering Kyiv is badly damaged by the Ukrainians. Obviously this is no coincidence. After that victory, the Kiex intelligence agency used an app used by millions of Ukrainians to report where the Russians were. “Mobile phones created a new reality in the war,” Mstylas Banik, head of Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry, told Repubblica, explaining that many Ukrainians trapped behind the Russian front managed to send precise information to their army via chat.
The destruction of 4G antennas
One of the reasons for the Russian debacle was the lack of communication between the soldiers themselves and the unencrypted radio lines, which, however, were at the mercy of virtually everyone. Why is that happend? Because the Russians destroyed many to avoid the Ukrainians’ use of technology antennas for the Internet and the abolition of 4G, which is also essential for them. This meant that for all of the daytoday issues we’ve documented so far, they couldn’t communicate between one unit and another. Using a simple smartphone, the Ukrainian population constantly signaled where to meet the enemy.
The shield of foam mattresses
In addition to the technology, the Ukrainians took the motto “making a virtue out of necessity literally, and tried to defend themselves by any means necessary. It seems absurd though, the shields off foam rubber for 2 euros each, they made it possible to neutralize the Russian spy drones when positioned correctly over the head, since they prevented the thermal emissions generated by the heat of the human body. This shield completely neutralized them, which is why nocturnal drones were often left with an inch of their nose, allowing the Ukrainians to ambush Russians at night.
The fatal mistake of the Russians
A major strategic error led to the fact that the Russians got bogged down with their own hands after blowing one up dam along the Dnieper River. As Repubblica recalls, the water inundated the entire Irpin area, a forest that suddenly became an impenetrable swamp where tanks and armored vehicles got stuck in the water, becoming easy targets for much smaller and less powerful Ukrainian units that only thanks to small the best had drones or simple bazooka. It is said that the Irpin River, even if small, became the “Piave of Ukraine” due to the dam rupture and in this area the Rissu suffered heavy losses and the advance to Kyiv soon turned into a retreat. In this strange conflict, classic methods like ambushes and sabotage can prevail even against a potentially stronger army if it makes a big mistake and Ukrainian opponents know how to use the earth’s resources and technology to their advantage.
what can happen now
As we saw in Giornale.it, the last Russian offensive in the eastern region Donbass it has already started. Combining the two points, it is easy to hypothesize for the immediate future: After days of significant military standoff, the conflict could suddenly intensify within the next few hours. “It will be a difficult fight,” said Zelenskyj. The Russian army, having withdrawn from Kyiv, is there now, along with Merceran Wagner, the famous Syrian militias. Ukrainians are fewer in number, a quarter of the armed forces in Kyiv. However, according to some, it is not out of the question that the Russians will later retrace their steps and attack the capital as well, as suggested by Ramzan Kadyrov, a Chechen leader allied with Putin.