Over time, the Deep State has added more advanced features and quirks to the map. A toolbar in the bottom left corner offers the option to enable different layers, including weather patterns, fortifications, and gamma radiation levels in the event of a nuclear disaster. Users can simulate the effect of different 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 a Baby Yoda animation that, when tapped, uses the Force to destroy Russian units.
The map soon became too much for Mykula and Pohorilyi to handle alone; they now have help from more than 100 paid and volunteer staff. Their methods have evolved, too. They still use open-source intelligence to verify new information, but they also get data directly from front-line military units with whom they have developed relationships. In some cases, the authority of a single source they have learned to trust is enough, though Mykula admits there have been occasional slip-ups. In other cases, when multiple sources contradict each other, they wait until definitive evidence emerges. Propaganda abounds on both sides, and Mykula insists the Deep State will have no part in it. “We want to win,” he says. “Propaganda will not win.”
Mykula and Pohorilyi do, however, do so when Ukrainian military commanders request delays in map updates that may compromise their activities. They also receive government funding for an alternative version of the map available only to verified members of the military. Government funding also goes toward other intelligence activities that Ruslan declines to discuss; most of their funding comes from public donations.
By the end of the first year of the war, Mykula and Pohorilyi learned that their map was helping another unexpected group of users: Russian soldiers. The map’s designer had added a feature that would display instructions to surrender if a user tried to access it from a Russian IP address. Then, in October 2022, in Interview with a popular Ukrainian bloggerA Russian prisoner of war testified that he had used the Deep State map for exactly this purpose.
The success of the Deep State map has attracted more users to its original Telegram channel, which now has more than 700,000 subscribers. It publishes its own original reports from the war, all available through a free app, which is sometimes picked up by other established Ukrainian media outlets. But the map remains its most popular product, used by Ukrainians at home and abroad to track the front line that, at the time of writing, is getting closer to its office in Kiev by the day.
Both Mykula and Pohorilyi approach their work with a rigorous dedication that belies their youth and inexperience. “We don’t want to disappoint our audience because our projects have become essential for Ukrainians,” says Mykula. “If you compare us to other maps, you’ll see that Ukrainians don’t come to check on us. They come to us.”
This story first appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of WIRED UK.