Russia's War on Ukraine - Resources

Russia has begun an unprovoked war on Ukraine.

This page is mainly for my friends and teammates at Xyleme, Inc., but it may be useful for others, as well. Below I will try to provide some resources about what’s going on right now, what led to this, who’s affected, and how you can help.

First off, for my friends at my company, Xyleme, let’s be clear that Putin !== Russia. The following is not a condemnation of the Russian people, but facts laid out to the best of my ability.

For those of you concerned about my family in Ukraine, thank you. We are in constant contact with them at the moment and they are all safe.

This info is what I have as of March 2, 2022 around 8AM ET.

Note: I will not be updating this page as regularly from here on out.

The situation on the ground is changing so fast that it’s difficult to keep up, but the situation with our team members is largerly the same (and that was the purpose of this page). Our teammate Tetiana Tsakun is still in Chernihiv, hunkered down, because it is not safe to leave. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and pray for their safety throughout the rest of this ordeal.

The remainder of our teammates are safe, mostly in small towns with their families, and mostly in western Ukraine, so they will remain safe unless the situation shifts significantly, in which case I will update this page.

Finally, it’s currently rumored that the Kremlin’s “end-game” is reinstating Viktor Yanukovych as president in Ukraine, and idea for which I have two word: Fuck. Off.

EDIT: Updated 3/11/22@08:45 ET

Tetiana Tsakun is safe in Lviv.

EDIT: Updated 2/29/22@07:10 ET

Tetiana Tsakun is on the road with her family attempting to head toward Lviv.

EDIT: Updated 2/28/22@08:10 ET

I’ve edited some resources, and added a couple of new items. Below is a list of updates since last yesterday morning

Air raid sirens have been sounding in the Lviv, Volyn, and Rivne regions for the past 2 days, but I’m not aware of any successful air raids, though there were missle explosions near Rivne.

Note, admittedly, my sources on the following are limited, but I’m not a journalist, nor a media outlet, I’m simply providing this page as an aid to my friends and coworkers, please seek out info for yourself if you feel the need.

• Belarus has confirmed they have fired missles at Ukraine and Lukashenko is threatening to join the war more directly. tweet, tweet
  • Update: this seems to be confirmed, tweet
• Belarus will hold a referandum on allowing the hosting of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus. tweet
  • Note, this referandum allegedly passed and Belarus is revoking its “neutral” status: tweet
• Putin seems determined to deter western countries from interfering by flexing the strength of Russia’s nuclear arsenal. tweet
• Many European countries have closed their airspace to Russian aircraft
• The US, UK, and EU seem to have settled on excluding certain Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system, with Japan recently agreeing, as well. tweet
• Elon Musk stated that Tesla’s Starlink system would soon be active in Ukraine to help protect against any attempt to destablize Ukraine’s internet infrastructure. tweet
• There is ongoing frustration between Ukraine requesting peace talks, but Russia insisting on them being held in Minsk, Belarus, while Ukraine has requested them to be held in Geneva, negotiations seem to be ongoing, though it now seems confirmed that Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet on the Ukrainian-Belarussian border for negotiations:
  • tweet
  • tweet
  • tweet
  • Update: Ukrainian delegation has arrived for talks, despite the fact that missles are still flying from Belarussian territory against Lukashenko’s word: tweet

For my wonderful friends and coworkers in Russia, I deeply, sincerely hope that you do not need any of the following, but I’ve been informed that the Interior Ministry of Ukraine set up the following website, https://200rf.com/, for Russian families to find soldiers who were either killed in action or have been taken prisoner. Also, it seems that the Ukrainian NGO “Save life in UA” (links near the bottom) has also set up a hotline for family members of Russian soldiers to confirm their status, if possible:

What’s happening right now

At the time of writing this, Russia is directly assulting Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other major cities, such as Kharkiv and Kherson that are strategically important to the invasion.

I made a basic map, with red arrows, which I have held off from posting because I believed it would not be responsible to put something out like that unless it was clear the war had begun. This is just one very incomplete estimate of what the Russian op plan might look like. pic.twitter.com/FQDcwV5MpV

— Michael Kofman (@KofmanMichael) February 24, 2022

Across Ukraine, Russia is not attacking only military targerts, despite what they say, but are actively assulting civilian areas. As of now, US and Ukrainian intelligence expect that the plan is the following:

Russia’s plan to seize Kyiv, according to Ukrainska Pravda intelligence sources:

1) Intensify attacks along the border, so troops leave Kyiv;

2) Seize one of Kyiv’s airports, as sabotage groups disconnect the city from electricity and communications to cause panic;

3) Organize arson and looting to create more panic;

4) Launch a cyber attack on government websites;

5) Induce more panic to create “uncontrolled columns of refugees’ from Kyiv to block highways and hinder movement of Ukrainian troops;

6) Capture and hold government buildings.

Desired goal: Seize the leadership of the state (not specified who) and force them to sign a peace agreement on Russian terms, threatening large civilian deaths.

Result – Ukraine can be divided into two parts, like East and West Germany.

Even if part of the country’s leadership is evacuated, some pro-Russian politicians will be able to “take responsibility” and sign documents, citing the “escape” of the political leadership from Kyiv.

Kyiv is currently being attacked on three sides: The East, South, and North (thanks to Belarus’ complicit actions). Many civilians are taking shelter underground in the subway system.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced late last night that Ukrainan was under “full mobilization”, meaning that men between the ages of 18-60 are forbidded from leaving the country.

Here are some resources on how to keep up:

• The Kyiv Independent
  • Up-to-date Enlgish language news from the ground in Kyiv.
• Kyiv Post
• NY Times special coverage

Note: I removed figures from here as they change so quickly, you can follow more up-to-date information by using one of the resources linked above.

Why is this Happening? (editorials)

On a personal level, I think this pretty well sums up why:

Putin calls on Ukrainian military to overthrow leadership in Kyiv.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin made a yet another televised address, this time calling on the Ukrainian military to “take in your own hands” and overthrow the country’s leadership, whom he described as “terrorists” and “a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

• ”The Reason Putin Would Risk War” | A great article by Anne Applebaum that describes Putin’s mindset and why this might be happening.
• ”There are no Chamberlains in this Story” | Another great article by Anne Applebaum explaining the similarities and differences of what’s happening today and what happened at the beginning of WWII

List of Xyleme Teammates in Ukraine, past and present, and their location satuses:

I will try my best to keep this list up-to-date, but I am not in contact with everyone and I do not have everyone’s contact information.

Current Xyleme Teammates:

Former Xyleme teammates currently in Ukraine (not exhaustive, sorry):

These are who I’m currently in contact with. If someone is not on the list and you’re worried about them, let me know and I’ll try to contact them

How can I help?

I will keep this list as up-to-date as I can.

• Donate to the Ukrainian Red Cross (back up)
• Donate to the Kyiv Independent
  • [Recurring donation][28]
  • [One-time donation][29]
  • NOTE: The Kyiv Independent has been overwhelmed with support and is asking for people to donate to a fund set up to spread donations across Ukrainins independent journalism organizations: ”Keep Ukraine’s Media Going”
    • For CRYPTO donations (see info below on how to easily donate crypto):
      • BTC: bc1qtdkvd5j89drlk2yaekpszm0rlrnsrfetdd5am7
      • ETH: 0x97849c43DB2AD63905aCcAD01Cbd6794833A95b5
• ”How to Support the Ukrainian Military” - Kyiv Independent
• Donate to savelife_in_ua - PLEASE READ AND CONSIDER DONATING
  • Note that Patreon removed this NGO because they began providing direct support to the Ukrainian military. Here is Patreon’s statement. And here is their follow-up on twitter
  • I understand that convient ways of donating to this organization have been taken down, but please consider either making a SWIFT transfer (contact your bank) or Bitcoin
    • Bitcoin donations are actually incredibly easy if you have the “Cash App” on your phone, simply follow along below:
      • Open the Cash App and tap the “Bitcoin” button in the bottom right:
        
      • Tap “Buy” to buy a specific amount of Bitcoin, converted to USD for convenience, then click the “Airplane” button to send Bitcoin to an external address:
        
      • Once you’ve clicked the “Airplane”, the “Send Bitcoin” screen will open, write the dollar amount you wish to send in Bitcoin and click the “Scan” icon in the upper right-hand corner:
        
      • Now, either SCAN the barcode below, or select “Paste Address” to paste in bc1qkd5az2ml7dk5j5h672yhxmhmxe9tuf97j39fm6 :
        
      • Tap the “Send” button
        
      • Select your “Withdraw Speed” and tap “Next”
        
      • Check your data and tap “Confirm and Send” to complete the transaction. Once you’ve done that, the transfer should be complete based on the timeframe you selected as the “Withdraw speed”, and you can always check on the transation status in the meantime.
• Share with any Ukrainians you know info about https://prykhystok.in.ua/now, a website created to help Ukrainians who are fleeing embattled areas coordinate places to stay
• Convoy of Hope - Response to Russia’s War on Ukraine
  • Organizing humanitarian aid to Ukraine in response to the Russia invasion
• Another list of ways to help from geopolitcal historian Timothy Snyder: https://snyder.substack.com/p/a-few-ways-to-help-ukrainians
• Viber
  • You can make phone calls to Ukrainian numbers using Viber (or Skype for that matter) for a low fee, but I believe that I saw that fees are currently discounted for calls to Ukraine due to the invasion. If you’re in need to contact someone in Ukraine who doesn’t have the internet and have their cell phone number, this is a better option than calling directly through your cell provider