When War Came to Their Country, They Built a Map

Over time, Deep State has added more advanced features and quirks to the map. A toolbar in the bottom-left corner offers the option to enable different layers, including weather patterns, fortifications, and gamma radiation levels in case of nuclear disaster. Users can simulate the effect of different weapons, calculating the range and potential damage of everything from self-propelled howitzers and ballistic missiles to Patriot air defense systems and nuclear explosions. A hidden Easter egg summons an animation of Baby Yoda that, when poked, uses the Force to destroy Russian units.

The map soon became too much for Mykula and Pohorilyi to manage alone; they now enlist the help of more than 100 paid employees and volunteers. Their methods have also evolved. They still use open source intelligence to verify new information, but also acquire data directly from frontline military units whom they’ve developed relationships with. In some cases, the authority of a single source whom they’ve learned to trust is enough, though Mykula admits there have been occasional errors. In other cases, when multiple sources contradict one another, they wait until definitive evidence emerges. Propaganda is rife on both sides, and Mykula insists that Deep State will take no part in it. “We want to win,” he says. “Propaganda will not win.”

Mykula and Pohorilyi do, however, oblige when Ukrainian military commanders request delays to map updates that may compromise their activities. They also receive some government funding for an alternate version of the map available only to verified members of the military. The government funding also goes toward other intelligence activities that Ruslan refuses to discuss; most of their funding comes from public donations.

Late in the first year of the war, Mykula and Pohorilyi learned that their map was helping another, unexpected group of users: Russian soldiers. The map’s designer had added a function that would display instructions to surrender if a user tried to access from a Russian IP address. Then, in October 2022, in an interview with a popular Ukrainian blogger, a Russian POW testified that he had used Deep State’s map for this exact purpose.

The success of Deep State’s map has attracted more users to their original Telegram channel, which now has more than 700,000 subscribers. It publishes its own original reports of the war, all available through a free app, which other established Ukrainian media organizations sometimes refer to. But the map remains the most popular product, used by Ukrainians at home and abroad to track the front line that, at the time of writing, creeps further toward their office in Kyiv every day.

Both Mykula and Pohorilyi approach their work with a stern dedication that belies their youth and inexperience. “We don’t want to disappoint our audience because our projects have become critical for Ukrainians,” Mykula says. “If you compare us to other maps, you will see that Ukrainians don’t go to check on them. They come to us.”

This story first appeared in the September/October 2024 edition of WIRED UK.