About five weeks have passed since the mass started Russian invasion of Ukraine and -surprisingly for many- it Internet and the communications of the country, both internally and with the rest of the world, have not “fallen”. This is partly because The Russians have not unleashed (at least not yet) the universal cyber-war which many in the West feared and in part the admirable foresight and ingenuity of the Ukrainians.
According to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, Interrupting enemy communications is a rudimentary military tactic. If e.g. the staff of an army can not communicate with the battlefield, its soldiers can not receive the appropriate commands. Especially in the modern digital age many modern and online weapon systems will be less effective. And of course in a highly digital society “blind” communications have consequences far beyond battles, as cutting with others inside and outside the country leads to loss of morale, inability to provide proper information (and the spread of misinformation respectively) and more generally in a confusion.
According to a report in the British magazine The Economist, people in Ukraine have been faced with such problems since the Russian invasion. The country’s communications infrastructure has been hit hard. For example, on March 28, a cyber-attack was carried out on Ukrtelecomone of the largest Ukrainian telecommunications companies, with the result that most users of its network lose access to the Internet.
But beyond such incidents, Ukraine has so far managed to maintain contact with the outside world. A key way to do this is with the help of the famous businessman Elon Musk Space X and Tesla thanks to the new global Starlink satellite internet network it is developing.
Just two days after the start of the Russian invasion, the Minister of Digital Transformation and Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov sent a message to Musk via Twitter, saying: “@elonmusk, as you try to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine. While your missiles are successfully landing from space, Russian missiles are attacking Ukrainian civilians. We ask that you provide Starlink stations in Ukraine and call on the reluctant Russians to resist. “
@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars – Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space – Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civilian people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.
– Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022
Fedorov knew that one of the Russians’ priorities was to shut down his country’s communications infrastructure, so he quickly looked for other ways to keep the communications flowing. Musk responded immediately and, a week before the invasion, Fedorov was able to tweet a picture of a group of new Starlink terminals loaded on the back of a pickup truck, accompanying the photo with the caption ‘Starlink – here. Thank you @elonmusk “.
Starlink, operated by Space X, sends Internet signals from a “constellation” of several small satellites in low orbit above the Earth (which is why astronomers have been criticized for interfering with their telescope observations). ). As there are no Starlink terrestrial antennas or fiber optics on Ukrainian territory, Russian forces can not silence this channel of communication, which helps maintain basic Ukrainian infrastructure online (hospitals, government services, etc.). But there are certainly not enough portable Starlink terminals for everyone to be online in Ukraine, especially if the country suffers a massive cyber-blackout.
They make improvised signal amplifiers from copper wires and Coca-Cola tins.
At the moment, such a thing seems unlikely. Τthe Ukrainian internet has proven to be remarkably resilient and one reason is how the country has developed its infrastructure in recent decades. Many different companies have set up their own networks without initial central coordination, with the result that today the entire internet in Ukraine has a large capacity and resistance to attacks on its physical infrastructure.
In addition, the domestic internet providers, teams of IT specialists and experienced volunteers work around the clock, often in hazardous environments, to continually reconnect and repair damaged infrastructure following bombing or sabotage. The Ukrainian government has also given telecommunications providers temporary access to unused portions of the radio spectrum in order to reduce congestion on their networks. Also, the telecommunication companies in the country have decided not to disconnect from their networks those citizens who can not pay their bills due to the war, their displacement, etc.
It is also remarkable the ingenuity of the Ukrainians, who are preparing for the worst. For example, engineers in Kyiv are already working to find original ways to maintain – in the event of a blackout – the electricity that supplies power and telecommunications networks. Including, take out electric car batteries and connect them together, creating large “power banks” or “power walls”which can be used as sources of electricity either by city dwellers or by soldiers on the battlefield.
To another intelligent innovation, Ukrainians have found new ways to extend the distance that their “smart” mobile phones (smartphones) can be connected to a more distant mobile antenna in case the nearby ones are damaged. Such an extension is usually made through signal amplifiers, but they are expensive and hard to find devices. Ukrainian engineers have made improvised signal amplifiers using a combination of coaxial cable, copper wire and oca Coca-Cola tins. In this way, they have managed to triple the distance that a mobile phone can be connected to a mobile network antenna. This proves once again that war favors technical innovations.
Source: News Beast

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