DeepStateMap.Live is an open-source intelligence interactive online map of the military operations of the Russian and Ukrainian armies during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The map was created on 24 February 2022, the day of the invasion, by the non-governmental and volunteer-led organization Deep State UA. It is updated regularly to reflect the current situation on the frontline, in military formations, and other major events of the war such as the sinking of the Moskva.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Deep State UA originally focused on posting content related to global news and politics on the messaging app Telegram, where they created their first updating online map of a global conflict during the Taliban offensive in 2021. After the Russian invasion, DeepStateMap.Live separated itself from similar digital maps of the invasion after moving away from using a generic Google Maps background after a dispute with Google, allowing Deep State UA to design their own background and interactive map features. The map is currently sourced using a blend of both visual information and confirmations by Ukrainian sources deemed reliable.
The map and other military analysis collected or made by Deep State UA has been cited by Ukrainian and international media outlets such as the BBC and Ukrainska Pravda. By February 2024, the map has been viewed more than 1 billion times, and has become the most popular digital map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Ukraine, and one of the most popular digital maps of Ukraine globally.
History
Deep State UA
"DeepState" in the general sense is something unusual and non-governmental, where the most important powerful events take place. We wanted to be something unusual in the field of providing information, that's why this idea with the name arose. And to date, it has been quite successfully chosen, which is very gratifying.
Deep State UA team, October 2022 interview with Radio Free Europe in response to the question "Why was the project called that?"[1]
The team which maintains the map today, Deep State UA, was created as a non-governmental[1] organization in February 2020[1] by Roman Pohorily and Ruslan Mykula,[2] At this time, the organization focused on posting content on the messaging app software Telegram. This content often related to global news and politics,[1] including events such as the COVID-19 pandemic,[P 1] the Syrian civil war, George Floyd protests, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the 2021 Taliban offensive.[2] It was during the 2021 Taliban offensive that the organization first experimented in map making; creating a digital map with a frontline that could be updated as the conflict unfolded.[2] Map admin Mykula later recalled asking in an interview with the Ukrainian public broadcast Suspilne, "why not show the same thing in Ukraine?"[2]
In the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the organization gradually shifted their focus towards entirely Ukrainian-specific news and analysis; reporting on hostilities and tracking the transfer of Russian military equipment and personnel to the Russia–Ukraine border.[1][3] A few hours before the beginning of the invasion, Deep State UA's Telegram channel exceeded 10,000 subscribers for the first time.[4]
The Deep State UA Telegram channel saw another large uptick popularity[4] for their coverage and analysis during the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[1] The organization and its community at this time helped to refute large claims made early in the war by both sides; including the false sinking of the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov,[5] and the destruction of all of Ukraine's Bayraktar TB2s.[6]
Map history
A destroyed Russian vehicle after the recapture of Izium, which led the map to reach its peak viewership of 120,000 visitors in 30 minutes
The online map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was created the day Russia started their invasion on 24 February 2022.[2][3] It was first developed using Google Maps as the backdrop[2][7] because of the simplicity in drawing lines and sharing with others that came with the service.[1] By the end of March however,[1]Google blocked Deep State UA's use of their map for "violations of their rules of service", effectively shutting the website down.[7] While the exact violation committed was not clearly explained, Google appeared to have issued the block as they did not want to host a website which could be a legal liability,[2] especially after complaints from viewers to Google which stemmed from the map not always being updated with the most current information,[1] and several prior digital attacks by hackers in Russia.[3] After attempts over the following week to restore Google Maps on the website proved to be unsuccessful;[1] Deep State UA, along with a programmer who had recently joined, launched their own map on 27 March, which they called "DeepStateMAP", which is what is currently in use.[2][P 2][P 3] While the map became open to the public again on 26 April in an early state,[P 4] the change resulted in the loss of all information from before 3 April.[2]
After the change, the map greatly benefited from its new unique look from Google Maps and better functionality, making it more popular in Ukraine;[1] so that by June 2022, it had become the 23rd most visited website in the country.[3] The increase in server costs and drop in security that came with moving away from Google and running an independent map eventually lead to a major DDOS attack on 10 August 2022 against the map by hackers from Russia and various nations ideologically aligned with them, including China, Iran, Brazil, and North Korea.[1][2] The map "suffered almost no [damage]," according to the Deep State UA team, and returned back to normal functionality quickly.[1] The map's popularity increased and reach its peak viewership of 120,000 visitors in 30 minutes during the recapture of Izium and Lyman by Ukrainian forces, with 7.9 million visitors being recorded by the end of the day,[2] up from the approximately three million views the map normally receives each day according to its authors.[2] By October 2022, the map had been viewed more than 200 million times, making it the most popular digital map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Ukraine,[2][3] and one of the most popular digital maps of Ukraine globally.[2]
Today, the Deep State UA team is headed by the founders Pohorilyi and Mykula, and is made up of approximately 100 volunteers who work on their own time from home and communicate through Telegram, as the organization has no offices.[2] Alongside their map and Telegram channel, Deep State UA broadcasts on YouTube and Twitter, but has received less success because of the less time they have been on the platforms.[1][2] Since 8 March 2022, the organization has raised viewer-gathered funds to help support Ukraine and its armed forces.[P 5] It had gathered a total of over 3 million hryvnias (US$81,277.02) in donations by 22 April 2023.[P 6] On 19 February 2024, another major DDOS attack took place against the map, but was able to be resolved within 18 minutes of starting.[P 7] On 22 February 2024, the Deep State UA announced the map had reached one billion views since its launch.[P 8]
Map characteristics
The map on 25 April 2022, depicting the old color scheme
As of March 2024[update], the map is available to readers in English and Ukrainian,[2] and uses dark red to mark the areas currently controlled by Russian forces, blue to mark the areas regained by Ukrainian forces less than two weeks previously, green to mark the areas regained by Ukrainian forces more than two weeks previously, pink to mark the areas that have been controlled by Russian forces since before the war began, gray to mark the areas with unknown status, and red to mark areas outside of Ukraine which currently are under an occupation by Russia which could be considered controversial; such as for Transnistria, Karelia, and the Kuril islands.[8][P 9] When hovering over green regained areas; information from official sources, such as the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, about the area's recapture is also sometimes displayed.[7] Areas depicted as being regained by Ukrainian forces are only displayed if Russian forces stayed in the area for an extended period of time, and were not just passing through.[2] Earlier versions of the map displayed dark red areas as black areas, but has since been re-colored.[7][8]
Interactive features of the map include the ability to toggle icons representing the location of known Russian units and fleets[a] alongside distinguishing arrows displaying their direction of attack.[3][8] Icons to display major Russian-controlled railways in Ukraine,[b] as well as Russian headquarters and airfields in and outside Ukraine, can also be displayed.[3][8] Buttons located on the left side of the screen also display various information when pressed, including a map layer of the weather in and around Ukraine, background radiation across Ukraine, the location of Russian-made trench networks, the range of nuclear weapons, the range of various forms of artillery, and the locations of mystery fires in Russia and Ukraine within the last 48 hours.[P 10] Formerly, there was also a "pathogen mode" which displayed a blurred image of the current Russian troop concentrations in and around Ukraine.[9]
Versions
Deep State UA launched their first mobile version of the map on Google Play on 2 March 2023.[10][P 11] While the release was intended to be done alongside an app for iOS, the organization faced difficulties with Apple, as they claimed the map had characteristics which could be offensive against Russians.[P 11] Despite this, the map released on iOS about two months later on 29 April.[P 12]
Sourcing
According to map admin Pohorilyi, the sources used to put together the map include photo and video evidence published on social media,[2] followers near the frontline who get in touch,[2][3] and the Ukrainian military, who mainly are used to confirm or deny certain secure information.[2] For information gathered solely by people who claim to be in the area, the map often waits until several similar reports are made if no visual evidence[2] or confirmation by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is available.[3] Due to prior propaganda and exaggerated claims, Russian sources are not taken into account when compiling the map, according to map admin Pohorilyi.[2] Of the approximately 100 people who work for Deep State UA, 60 are tasked with verification of sources.[2]
Factuality
For example, [some soldiers] say: "Can you not mark this zone or mark it red?" That's what happened to us with Izium forest. Then other soldiers wrote to us: "We are sitting here in red, redraw." And I say: "Your colleagues on the flank asked for it to be red. We know what the situation is." We are asked - we fulfill. Because safety comes first.
Ruslan Mykula, October 2022 interview with Suspilne[2]
Being an Open Source Intelligence website which updates with a slight delay in information,[3][7] Deep State UA has cautioned not to use the map when planning evacuation routes, combat areas, or undertaking other sensitive and highly specific activities.[3][7] The authors have also delayed updating the map in situations where this could compromise Ukrainian positions on the ground, such as when Ukrainian forces retake positions in frontline areas other Russian forces have not yet realized.[2] While some Ukrainian soldiers have been displeased by the map for sometimes being too quick to update in these situations,[11] Mykula claimed the Ukrainian military has commended the map for its balance in displaying information, "not to rush ahead to say too much and not to fall far behind".[2]
Media attention and use
The information produced by Deep State UA has been cited by various news media, including the Ukrainian TV news channel 24 Kanal,[12] the British news broadcaster BBC News,[13] the Ukrainian English-language online newspaper Euromaidan Press,[14][15] the American business magazine Forbes,[16] the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda,[17] and the Polish Russian-language television network Vot Tak.[18]
Alerts.in.ua (Online air raid alert map of Ukraine)
Liveuamap (Online interactive map of Ukraine with recent news)
References
Notelist
^This feature was sometime later removed, with the only naval craft still shown on the map being the sunk Russian warship Moskva.
^This feature was more recently added to the map, and thus is not included in the following citations describing map features. The display options for Russian-controlled railways can still be found alongside the following features.
^"Друзі, ситуація по карті наступна" [Friends, the situation on the map is as follows]. Telegram (in Ukrainian). Deep State UA. 27 March 2022. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
^"Проєкт з "Deep State UA"" [Project from "Deep State UA"]. griselda.com (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
^Obrizan, Maksym (2022). Poverty, Unemployment and Displacement in Ukraine: three months into the war (Report). Kyiv School of Economics. p. 3. arXiv:2211.05628. The regions in the treatment group have been identified using the DeepState Map but are consistent with other sources and include […]
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