Over time, the Deep State has added more advanced features and capabilities to the map. A toolbar in the lower left corner offers the option to toggle on different layers, including weather patterns, fortifications, and gamma radiation levels in the event of a nuclear disaster. Users can simulate the impact of different weapons, calculating the range and potential damage of everything from self-propelled artillery and ballistic missiles to Patriot air defenses and nuclear explosions. A hidden Easter egg summons an animation of Baby Yoda who, when poked, uses the Force to destroy Russian units.
The map quickly became too much for Mykula and Pohorilyi to manage alone; they now enlist the help of more than 100 paid staff and volunteers. Their methods have evolved, too. They still use open-source intelligence to verify new information, but they also draw data directly from frontline 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 that it sometimes falls short. In other cases, when multiple sources contradict each other, they wait for hard evidence. Propaganda abounds on both sides, and Mykula insists that the Deep State will not participate in it. “We want to win,” he says. “Propaganda will not win.”
However, Mykula and Pohorilyi complied when Ukrainian military commanders asked them to delay a map update that could impact their operations. They also received some government funding for an alternative version of the map available only to verified members of the military. Government funding also went to other intelligence operations that Ruslan declined to discuss; the bulk of their funding came 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 designers added a feature that would display surrender instructions if a user tried to access it from a Russian IP address. Then, in October 2022, in an interview with a famous Ukrainian bloggerA Russian prisoner of war testified that he used the Underground State’s maps for this exact 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 on the war, all available through a free app, which other established Ukrainian media organizations sometimes reference. But the map remains its most popular product, used by Ukrainians at home and abroad to track the front line, which at the time of writing was advancing toward its Kyiv office every day.
Both Mykula and Pohorilyi approach their work with a steely dedication that belies their youth and inexperience. “We don’t want to disappoint our audience because our projects have become important to Ukrainians,” Mykula says. “If you compare us with other maps, you’ll see that Ukrainians don’t come to check them out. They come to us.”
This story first appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of WIRED UK.
