Today's Daily Spotlight from VeraMBergen: 'We became like a big startup.' Kyiv's digital gurus have repurposed everyday technology for a city facing a 20th-century-style war
hen Oleg Polovynko thinks of the first days of the Russian invasion of his country, he looks down at his fitness watch. In normal times, the 38-year-old IT director in Kyiv’s city council used his Garmin watch to track his workouts. “Right now, my heart rate is 62,” he tells TIME, holding up his wrist. “In the first five days after Feb. 24, it was never below 90.”
It’s hard to grasp that just two months ago, the main problem their city council faced was complaints about traffic jams downtown. Municipal IT employees now carry guns, and only leave their offices to shower and catch a few hours of sleep whenever they can. On the day they spoke to TIME, employees of the city council’s digital office were poring over mobile data to determine how to best ration food for those that remain.
In recent days, there have been 6 to 10 air raid alarms shared by the app per day, according to city officials. A red alarm icon shows the time and the message “Air Warning! Head to the nearest shelter!” It’s followed by a green icon telling residents when the danger had passed, according to screenshots shared with TIME.
With residents often sheltering underground and Internet providers frequently being knocked offline, connectivity became one of the most pressing problems. “We realized we would have to spend a lot of time in these bomb shelters and there was nothing prepared for the long term,” Polovynko says.
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