How Ukraine Is Fighting On The Digital Battlefield

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🗓️ 31 March 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

Time's Vera Bergengruen says Ukraine's citizen IT force, led by a 31-year-old minister of digital transformation, is blunting Russian disinformation and galvanizing international support. The Ukrainian government has enlisted as many as 300,000 citizens to volunteer for the so-called IT army. "There are people who worked at tech companies, who had startups, who are cybersecurity experts, and many of them are just ordinary citizens who raised their hands," Bergengruen says.

Also, John Powers reviews Slow Horses, the new six-part spy thriller series on Apple TV+, starring Gary Oldman.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast comes from the New Bower Family Foundation, supporting
0:04.7	WHY Wise Fresh Air and its commitment to sharing ideas and encouraging meaningful conversation.
0:11.6	This is Fresh Air.
0:12.9	I'm Dave Davies, Infra Terry Gross, who's off this week.
0:16.6	One constant theme of reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is surprise at
0:21.4	an admiration for the Ukrainian military's effectiveness in fighting Russian troops.
0:26.4	Our guest today, Time Magazine correspondent Vera Bergengruin, reports that Ukraine has also been successful in
0:33.6	waging war on the digital battlefield.
0:35.9	A key figure in the country's efforts is its 31-year-old minister of digital transformation,
0:41.1	Mikhailo Fedorov, a man who'd previously run digital communications in Volodymyr Zelensky's
0:47.3	successful presidential campaign.
0:49.4	Bergengruin writes that Fedorov's ministry is inventing a whole new way to fight a war online.
0:54.9	They've recruited thousands of citizen volunteers in efforts to undermine Russian disinformation campaigns.
1:00.9	They've short up international support and gotten tech companies to block services in Russia
1:05.9	and their social media campaign of videos with President Zelensky has united and lifted the morale of Ukrainians.
1:12.9	Vera Bergengruin previously reported for the Miami Herald, Buzzfeed news, and a Baclatchy
1:17.9	newspapers Washington Bureau, where she worked on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers investigation.
1:23.9	She's now an investigative correspondent in Times Washington Bureau covering online disinformation
1:29.9	and national security.
1:31.9	Well, Vera Bergengruin, welcome to Fresh Air.
1:34.9	Thank you for having me.
1:36.9	A key figure in this fascinating story is this 31-year-old guy named Mikhailo Fedorov.
	...

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