Ukraine's IT Brigade Supports the Troops

An anonymous reader sends this story from BusinessWeek: Eight months ago, David Arakhamiya was running a small IT company in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv. Today, as an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, he oversees a massive crowdfunding effort that since March has raised about $300 million from ordinary citizens. The money is being used to equip Ukraine’s army with everything from uniforms, water, and other basic supplies to high-tech gear such as reconnaissance drones. Yaroslav Markevich, another IT entrepreneur with a small company in Kharkiv, once a Soviet hub for aviation technology, presented a plan to the commander of one Ukrainian battalion to create a drone unit after hearing stories about the efficiency of Russian drones. The commander said yes, and by the time his battalion was deployed early this summer, it was the only one in the army equipped with a fleet of short- and long-range drones. ... IT experts across Ukraine have been an important part of the volunteer effort to supply the army with equipment.

Comments

Sell them stuff

[Anonymous Coward]

The US has billions of dollars of unused military equipment just sitting in places like Afghanistan. I read an article on how it will all be turned into scrap metal at 1000th of the cost to build the damn things. The rest get shipped over here to be sold at an insane discount to our military police forces...

Why can't we sell this junk to the Ukrainians and make a profit. It would kill three birds with one stone. (Reduce waste slightly, kill Russian troops, and stop militarizing our police forces.)

Re: who needs them when NATO is there?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, you might wake up to the fact that russia is a more humane civilization than the criminals who are in charge of nato. Just look at how they conspire with the mohammedanic evil all the time. Next to greece they recently allowed the ethnic cleansing of serbs by the kosovar mohammedanics. I have seen a presentation by a german officer myself where he showed the pictures of a burnt down serb monastery. That whole conflict was paid and ideologized by the wahabist menace of saudi arabia. US and UK nurture the enemies of our own civilization.

Re:I call bullshit

[dunkelfalke]

Well, and by the same law that has created an independent Ukraine in 1991, Crimea should have been an independent country as well, given that they have declared their sovereignty almost a year earlier but were basically forced to remain in Ukraine by the military threat.

This is not Moscow propaganda, just a little history lesson. It is interesting that you don't know it, given that you've previously mentioned being an Ukrainian yourself. Could it be that you are but a kid yet? That would fit the whole picture about you very well indeed.