Over time, the Deep State has added more advanced features and quirky elements to the map. A toolbar in the bottom left corner offers options to enable different layers, including weather patterns, fortifications, and gamma radiation levels in a nuclear disaster. Users can simulate the effects of various 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, who, when poked, will use the Force to destroy Russian troops.
The map quickly became too big for Mikula and Pohorilii to manage alone, and the pair now have more than 100 paid employees and volunteers to help them. Their methods have also evolved: They still use open-source information to verify new information, but sometimes they get data directly from frontline military units with whom they have built relationships. Sometimes the authority of a single source they have come to trust is enough, but Mikula acknowledges that they have occasionally made mistakes. In other cases, when multiple sources contradict each other, they wait until conclusive evidence emerges. Propaganda is rampant on both sides, and Mikula is adamant that the Deep State will not play into it. “We want to win. Propaganda can’t win,” he says.
But Mikula and Pohoryly will comply if Ukrainian military commanders ask them to postpone updating the maps if it threatens to hinder their operations. They also receive some funding from the government for an alternative version of the maps that is only available to members of the military with military credentials. Government funds are also used for other intelligence activities that Ruslan refuses to talk about. Most of their funding comes from public donations.
Towards the end of the first year of the war, Mikula and Pohorilyi discovered that their map was serving another unexpected group of users: Russian soldiers. The map’s designers had added a feature that displayed instructions to surrender if the user tried to access it from a Russian IP address. Later, in an interview with a popular Ukrainian blogger in October 2022, he said that Russian prisoners of war had used the Deep State map for exactly this purpose.
The success of the Deep State map has led to an increase in users of the original Telegram channel, which now has over 700,000 subscribers. The channel publishes its own reports on the war, all available in a free app, and is sometimes referenced by other major Ukrainian media organizations. However, the map remains its most popular product, used by Ukrainians at home and abroad to track the front line, which is gradually moving closer to the Kiev offices every day as of this writing.
Despite their youth and inexperience, Mikula and Pohorilyi take their work seriously. “Our project has become important to Ukrainians, so we don’t want to disappoint our viewers,” Mikula says. “Compared to other maps, we see that Ukrainians don’t go to check out the map, they come to us.”
This article first appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of WIRED UK..
