Currently, smartphones play a critical role in Ukraine – they are used to communicate with relatives and friends, videotape the surrounding realities in real time and navigate for safe movement around the country. In this regard, some experts are wondering why Russia has not yet done anything in relation to base stations and other telecommunications infrastructure facilities. Was it intentional?
As the CNET publication notes, this conflict is different from all that have ever happened, since the world can observe it almost in real time. From the very beginning, ordinary citizens constantly record all events on their mobile devices and show the world what is really happening. They do not need special equipment for this, it is enough to have a phone, Internet, a page in social networks or a messenger.
Not a single government statement, not a single report shot by professional journalists can compare with a live chronicle of events. This is what distinguishes the conflict in Ukraine from, say, the Azerbaijani-Armenian border crisis of 2021, where the video recording of what is happening was mainly carried out by the military, not the civilian population.
Experts are sure that almost all the videos shot and posted by ordinary citizens are authentic.
“There is practically no inauthentic or old video content in this conflict. Most of the footage we see is actually shot by civilians on the spot… Basically, these are shots taken from balconies, windows, CCTV cameras or just passers-by on the streets filming everything on video,” Benjamin Strick, director of the non-profit organization Center for Information Resilience, said in an email to CNET.
The first thing people do when leaving bomb shelters is to contact their relatives and friends in other parts of the country. Refugees also use online maps to plot the safest route.
Mobile communication continues to work, despite the serious destruction in the cities. Some believe that the leaders of the special operation simply overlooked this moment, but others are sure that in this way they can intercept data.
In turn, the Ukrainian government reports that there is a real struggle for communication in big cities. According to the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine Alexander Bornyakov, they are constantly trying to disconnect the connection, but people restore it every time.