Ukraine and the American tech sector are building the future

Ukrainian officials, whether they represent the government or the private sector, are counting on American technology to defend their country and rebuild it after Russia's ruthless attacks.

American companies specializing in artificial intelligence and satellite imagery are among the many technology companies that began collaborating with Ukraine shortly after Russia launched an all-out invasion in February 2022.

They have provided humanitarian and in-kind aid to the tune of tens of millions of dollars while putting their expertise at the service of Ukraine, specifies the Technology Engagement Center of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Some companies donated their technology to the Ukrainian government, while others offered it to the media. Here are some examples.

Telling about the war

Shortly after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion, Maxar Technologies of Westminster, Colorado, captured satellite images of a 40-mile-long convoy of Russian vehicles heading toward Kyiv.

Maxar said it has provided images of more than 200 news stories to journalists around the world over the past year. Its goal: was to tell the war with more fidelity and to combat disinformation.

The Colorado company notably provided:

• satellite images which helped to refute Russia's claims according to which the murders committed in Boutcha were staged;
• data on the damage caused to Ukrainian agricultural production as a result of the war led by Russia
• images of schools and apartments bombed by Russia in Bakhmout
• footage showing flooding in towns along the Dnieper following the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam.

Identify damage inflicted on buildings

in March 2022, San Francisco-based company Scale AI began collecting images of Ukrainian cities targeted by bombing Using information from commercial satellite images, Scale AI has built a system capable of automatically detecting new damage to buildings And she handed over her work to the Ukrainian authorities free of charge.

Daily information on building damage allows humanitarian and medical response teams to assist in the hardest-hit areas.

The company explains that it delivers its AI-ready datasets directly to its partners in Ukraine because it believes that AI should be used to support democratic values 

Prosecuting war crimes

Investigators examining evidence of potential war crimes have a wealth of data at their disposal. Palantir Technologies, headquartered in Denver, supports the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine in cataloging and managing various information sources.

Using its software, investigators will be able to share, integrate, and process all relevant data relating to nearly 80,000 war crimes that Russia may have committed in Ukraine, the company claims. These include killings, destruction, and rape in Bucha, Irpin, Izyum, Kharkiv region, and elsewhere. 

The software collects data from satellite images, intelligence, and other sources, including photos uploaded to social media by users from Ukraine and other nationalities.

It would be practically impossible [to analyze such a quantity of evidence] without modern IT solutions, underlines Andriy Kostine Prosecutor General of Ukraine, quoted in a Palantir press release.

Preserving food security

Since February 2022, San Francisco-based Planet Labs and the NASA Harvest consortium of food security researchers have been working with Ukraine's Ministry of Agriculture to analyze the country's agricultural lands.

Ukrainian officials can use satellite data to monitor crops *, predict crop yield, and detect soil nitrogen content In April, Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Taras Vysotskyi, praised the Ukrainian ministry's cooperation with NASA Harvest Their collaboration, the senior official said, improves the estimate of Ukraine's wartime agricultural production.

For its part, Planet Labs provides satellite images to humanitarian agencies involved in the evacuation of residents, mine clearance, and assessment of damage to buildings.

Countering disinformation and cyberattacks

Here are other examples of technical support provided to Ukraine by American companies from the early stages of the invasion:

• Google has blocked YouTube channels connected to Russian state media, such as RT and Sputnik, across Europe.
• Facebook has restricted access to RT and Sputnik across the European Union and the United Kingdom.
• Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have teamed up with Ukrainian IT organizations to fend off cyberattacks.

In 2022, the Ukrainian government awarded peace prizes to Google, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services. These awards were presented by President Volodymyr Zelensky in recognition of the essential technological support provided by these companies.