How the world is helping Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression?
In the face of the uneven position of European countries on the Russian aggression towards Ukraine, industry circles decided to take the matter into their own hands. The marketing and advertising sectors, as well as technology and hackers, who have become known as hacktivists, have become involved. Anonymous and Big Tech have taken their sanctions on Putin’s regime, which European authorities are slowly reflecting on.
Last week, on the night before Thursday morning, the twenty-fourth of February, Russian forces launched an armed assault on Ukrainian territory. As reported by Business Insider in the morning, the first reports of attacked places began to appear. Kiev itself, along with the country’s major cities, also fell victim to the shelling. Ukrainian border guards also reported that troops were pushing in from Belarusian territory. Ukraine reports that the first attack on the border was conducted with artillery, heavy equipment and firearms. Russians targeted all Ukrainian military airports and the forces of pro-Russian separatists in Donbass attacked Ukrainians and areas controlled by their army in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
NATO and EU reaction
NATO has reacted strongly against Russia, but so far all we see is a declarative and image layer. It is worth mentioning that not everything is visible to the eyes of the public and NATO supports Ukrainian troops quietly. The public debate, however, is mainly divided between those condemning the too-weak behavior of international politicians, but voices can also be heard fearing that more appropriate actions would start a conflict on a larger scale. Still others explain that NATO and EU are limited by their size and level of structures, which is very time-consuming to get any concrete results.
As he writes Prof. dr hab. Sebastian Wojciechowski, on the portal defence24, w Community dimension the first concrete action was the meeting of the North Atlantic Council, which took place at the level of ambassadors on February 24 in Brussels. The meeting condemned Russia’s aggression, assessed the situation in Ukraine and supported the request made by: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, that on the basis of provisions of article four hold urgent consultations of the pact members. The Council also decided to activate the defense plans of the alliance’s eastern flank. These are plans prepared by NATO for crisis situations, and the current documentation dates back two years. The plans include, for example, increasing the authority of the Alliance commanders, faster mobilization of rapid response troops, the possibility of redeploying forces and resources to places where it will be necessary or strengthening the air force. A few weeks ago, the commander-in-chief of the Pact increased the readiness of the rapid reaction troops.
According to the New Europe Institute, the White House published an executive order that had President Joe Biden’s signature. It concerned blocking the property of certain persons and prohibiting certain transactions in connection with further Russian efforts to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. As you can see, this does not apply to Russia itself, but only to selective situations related to planned investments and trade with rebellious people’s republics in the areas of Lugansk and Donetsk. The United States has also evacuated its troops and diplomatic personnel. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, had a conversation with the Ukrainian president and assured him that England would consider further defense support for Ukraine.
Reaction of Polish politicians
According to an article on the website of the Polish Television Third Program, Kielce district, Poles like never before agree in the face of the situation abroad. – We can talk about the heroism of Ukrainian border guards on the small Snake Island in the Black Sea, who gave their lives for the Motherland – Senator Jaroslaw Rusiecki from PIS said. – This is a call for all democratic countries to stop the barbarity of Vladimir Putin – said. – No more talk of graduating sanctions as Putin murders innocent people. The Russian leader has broken all the rules of the democratic world and the whole West must give a firm answer – stressed Adam Jarubas, member of the Polish People’s Party (PSL). – Western Europe can fight the invader with money and this should be used although we know that the West is divided on this issue – said Artur Gierada from PO.
Technology and business more effective than politics
Ursula von der Leyen yesterday announced tougher sanctions against Russian Federation. As we read in money.pl EU will close all airspace to Russian planes. The Union is also to completely remove „the Kremlin’s media machine” and „hit the most important sectors” of the Belarusian economy.
The head of the European Commission stressed that all these sanctions had been previously agreed with Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Countries still hesitate to exempt Russia from SWIFT banking system.
Telepolis reports that Russia will only be partially cut off from the system for now, as a full agreement has not been reached, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for more decisive action, which may follow grassroots industry and community involvement in humanitarian actions for Ukraine and defensive actions against Russia. As a result, for the first time in its history, the EU has declared that it will finance and deliver weapons and military equipment to a non-member country that is at the same time the object of armed aggression.
First, we are shutting down the EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft.
They won’t be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU.
Including the private jets of oligarchs. pic.twitter.com/o551M9zekQ
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2022
Public Relations vs fake news
The communication industry was one of the first to oppose the war and issued a statement and an appeal, which can be read on the infowire website.en. – On behalf of the Polish public relations industry – as the Polish Public Relations Association (PSPR), the Association of Public Relations Agencies (SAPR) and the Association of Public Relations Companies (ZFPR) – we unanimously condemn the unprecedented action of international aggression, which is the attack of the Russian Federation supported by Belarus on the free and independent Ukraine. At the same time, we express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people and all people from Ukraine residing in Poland. Many people from Ukraine work in the Polish PR industry. We stand with you in concern for the fate of your loved ones and friends in Ukraine and your homeland! – we read in the statement.
Pijarowcy express their opposition to the Russian crimes, deeply condemning the aggression, while noting that, in addition to military and armed actions, it is accompanied by psychological and disinformation war. Russian military operations on land and in the air are accompanied by disinformation and psychological warfare with absolutely unacceptable use of offensive means of communication, cyber attacks and massive troll farm operations to achieve military objectives. – reads.
Additionally, the PR industry appeals not to succumb to propaganda messages and not to succumb to fear. – Therefore we appeal to the media and publicists, especially those operating in social media channels, to pay special attention to the disinformation, carried out by the Russian aggressor, in the area of the so called “disinformation”. fake news. We also ask for an extremely thorough application of fact-checking procedures, i.e. verifying the veracity of information both from the places of Russian aggression in Ukraine and from the consequences of this aggression in economic and social areas. We also appeal to all public relations specialists in Russia and Belarus not to support with their actions the military aggression against a neighbor – an independent state – Ukraine. We also call on Polish PR companies and specialists of our profession to verify critically whether they are not working for entities directly supporting and representing in our country the war interests of the Russian aggressor – are expressed by experts in their announcement dated 24.02.2022. The statement was signed by the largest industry associations in the country, namely PSPR, SAPR and ZFPR.
NASK vs. disinformation
NASK team decided to join the warning action. As experts in cybercrime reporting and developing response methods, we appeal for information caution. Members of the Scientific and Academic Computer Network said that in connection with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, there is a large amount of false information in the Polish infosphere, and their number will only grow. This information has m.in. slander Ukrainians and weaken social support of Poles for the eastern neighbor by arousing fear and limited trust in the Ukrainian nationality.
– As Internet users, we don’t always know how to distinguish between real and manipulated information. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that many of these messages contain some truth, but presented in a distorted context. Disinformation is also provided by films and photos, which are very difficult to verify but make a strong impression. Sometimes we have to deal with trolls (often these are bots), which do not provide information at all, and their statements take the form of aggressive, inflammatory opinions – psaid Robert Król, Director of the Center for New Technologies for Public Policy at NASK
Big Tech vs Russia
Alphabet has blocked “several Russian channels” on YouTube, and announced that Russian media will not be able to buy any ads from Google’s offer, in ż. Videos posted on any existing channel. In Marketing at Coffee we can learn that the state-owned channel RT and other broadcasters may not receive money from ads posted on their websites, applications and videos on YouTube and Facebook. Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov asked for help in reducing disinformation and propaganda. Elon Musk asked to provide Starlink station to Ukraine and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple asked to cut off Russians from Apple Store, which is very likely.
Rzeczpospolita informs that Intel and Dell have stopped deliveries of their equipment and components to the Russian market, and about a probable move of the Chinese Lenovo, which also plans to make a similar move.
Technological support for refugees
As Banker points out, mobile operators, including m. in. Plus, Orange and Play have lowered the price of calls from Poland to Ukraine and are offering free packages to ensure Ukrainian expats stay in touch with loved ones. Radio Opole emphasizes that programmers from Da Vinci Studio built the Ukraine portal.services to integrate help for Ukrainians crossing the Polish border in the simplest, most intuitive way possible. For the time being, we are looking for volunteers who would like to complete the advertisements on this portal. It is supposed to organize initiatives, because Poles and Polish companies help Ukrainians on a mass scale, but on a very fragmented scale, which causes chaos and confusion. There are thousands of initiatives and it’s hard to know how to navigate through them, especially since it’s probably not hard to find fraudsters taking advantage of the situation abroad to get rich quick.
Marketing vs. hopelessness
Screen Network has decided to air a spot in support of Ukrainians. The video is being aired on screens across the country – in public places with the highest population densities of a communicative nature so that as many people as possible can see it. The action was also organized with the participation of the editors of NaTemat.
Hackers vs Putin. “You will soon feel the wrath of hackers from around the world”
Well, and the strongest and most significant action in terms of consequences for the administration of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the unprecedented disregard for the announcement of the hackers of the group Anonymous. A distinctive figure in a mask posted a video on Twitter, after the broadcast of which they immediately began their defensive. A rather uninteresting, yet symbolic analogy, since Putin himself did the same, whose speech was not yet over, and the first shots were already flying towards Ukraine.
Hacktivists unapologetically usurped government servers. As Wprost portal reports, the websites of the Kremlin, the Ministry of Defense and the rest of the important state institutions in Russia are currently not working. Moreover, Russian state television channels were attacked, as a result of which they broadcast anti-Putin messages, interspersed with Ukrainian reports and the anthem of the attacked country.
Hackers also blocked access to the servers of Russia’s largest companies, most notably Gazprom (which may be deprived of its position as a sponsor of UEFA, thus possibly depriving the Russian national team of the possibility of sports performances). – Soon you will feel the wrath of hackers from around the world. Many of them are Russian citizens. Your secrets are no longer safe. There is a good chance that key elements of your infrastructure will be intercepted – Anonymous announces.
Mobile Trends editors are moved by the actions of all activists helping victims of the attack in any way. The author of these words does not hide his surprise and keen interest in the actions of Anonymous, at a time when we are receiving news of Ukraine being left alone. The actions of activists and grassroots aid movements make it possible to regain faith in people, and the humanity test is passed very positively by the people of Western Europe. We also must not forget the tragedy of ordinary Russians. Let’s hope that everything will be solved with the least possible damage, in view of the harm already done, and Putin will answer for putting his personal motives before the good of his subjects and the independent neighboring country.
