DeepStateMapLive
# DeepStateMapLive

DeepStateMap.Live is an interactive OSINT online map run the non-governmental, volunteer-led Deep State UA, which focuses primarily on the military operations of the Russian and Ukrainian armies in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Created the day of the invasion 24 February 2022 by Roman Pohorily and Ruslan Mykula, the map has near-daily updates to reflect changes on the frontline, changes in military formations, and other major events of the war such as the sinking of the Moskva.

The map and other military analysis collected or made by Deep State UA has been cited by multiple Ukrainian and international media outlets. As of October 2022, the map has been viewed more than 200 million times, and has become the most popular digital map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Ukraine, and one of the most popular globally. Specifically in Ukraine, the map in June 2022 was the 23rd most visited website in the country, receiving approximately three million views each day.

## 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?"

The organization which hosts the map, Deep State UA, was founded in February 2020 by Roman Pohorily and Ruslan Mykula, on the messaging app Telegram, making their first post on 1 March 2020. At this time, the organization focused on posting content relating to global news and politics, including events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Syrian civil war, George Floyd protests, Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and 2021 Taliban offensive. It was during the 2021 Taliban offensive that the organization first experimented in map making; creating a digital map with a frontline that would update as the conflict unfolded, ending with the fall of Kabul. Map admin Ruslan Mykula would later recall asking in an interview with Suspilne, "why not show the same thing in Ukraine?"

In the prelude to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the organization gradually shifted their focus towards what would eventually be entirely Ukrainian-specific news and analysis; reporting on hostilities and tracking the transfer of Russian military equipment and personnel to the Russia-Ukraine border. A few hours before the beginning of the invasion, Deep State UA's Telegram channel exceeded ten thousand subscribers for the first time.

At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there was another large uptick in the Telegram channel's popularity for their coverage and analysis of the conflict live as it unfolded. The organization and its community helped to clarify and debunk misinformation that sprung up in the fog of war especially near the beginning of the invasion; such as the false sinking of the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov, and the destruction of all of Ukraine's Bayraktar TB2s.

### DeepStateMap.Live

The online map became active the day Russia started their invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and was first developed using Google Maps as the backdrop because of the simplicity in drawing lines and sharing with others that came with the service. By the end of March however, Google blocked Deep State UA's use of their map for "violations of their rules of service", effectively shutting the website down. While the exact violation committed is not fully clear, it is believed that Google issued the block as they did not want to host a website which could be a legal liability on one of their sites; especially after complaints from viewers to Google arose that the map was not being updated with the most current (often unconfirmed and often false) information, and several prior digital attacks by hackers in Russia. After several attempts over the following week to restore Google Maps on the website proved to be unsuccessful; 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. While the map would become open to the public again on 26 April in an early state, the change in maps unfortunately resulted in the loss of all information from before 3 April.

After the change though, the map would greatly benefit from its new unique look from Google Maps and better functionality, making it more popular in Ukraine. The increase in server costs and drop in security that came with moving away from Google and running an independent map would 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, North Korea. According to the Deep State UA team, the map fortunately held up "suffered almost nothing," and has run without major issue since. The map's popularity would increase 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, up from the approximately three million views the map normally receives each day according to its authors.

### Present day

The Deep State UA team is headed by the founders Roman Pohorily and Ruslan Mykula, and is made up of approximately 100 volunteers who work arbitrarily from home and communicate through Telegram, as the organization has no offices. Alongside their map and Telegram channel, Deep State UA also broadcasts on Youtube and Twitter, but has received less success because of the less time they have been on the platforms. As of October 2022, the map has been viewed more than 200 million times, and has become the most popular digital map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Ukraine, and one of the most popular globally. Specifically in Ukraine, the map in June 2022 was the 23rd most visited website in the country.

**Fundraising**

Since 8 March 2022, Deep State UA has also raised funds, entirely gathered by its viewers, to help support the war in Ukraine. On 22 April 2023, Deep State UA announced on Telegram that they had received over 3 million hryvnias (US$81,277.02) in donations since beginning their collection, which they announced would be put towards providing various aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

## Map characteristics

As of April 2023, the map is available to readers in English and Ukrainian, and uses red to mark the areas currently controlled by Russian forces, blue to mark the areas regained by Ukrainian forces less than two weeks ago, green to mark the areas regained by Ukrainian forces more than two weeks ago, dark red 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 light pink 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. 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. 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. Earlier versions of the map displayed dark red areas as black areas, but has since been re-colored.

The map also includes icons representing the location of known Russian units and fleets, alongside distinguishing arrows displaying their direction of attack. Icons for Russian headquarters and airfields in and outside of Ukraine are also displayed. Buttons located on the left side of the screen display visualized information on the range of various forms of artillery, the range of nuclear weapons, the locations of "suspicious fires" within the last 48 hours, and pathogen mode which displays a blurred image of the current Russian troop concentrations in and around Ukraine, and was developed alongside the automated military data processing system Griselda.

### Versions

Deep State UA, after a little more than one year of running the map solely as a website, launched its first app version on Google Play on 2 March 2023. In less than ten days, the app reached 100,000 downloads, and appeared at top spot for free applications on Google Play for a brief period of time on 5 March 2023. Attempts to display the app on Apple Store currently are ongoing.

## Sourcing

According to map admin Roman Pohorily, various sources are used to put together the displayed map. These sources include photo and video evidence published on social media, followers near the frontline who get in touch, and the elements of the Ukrainian military, who mainly are used to confirm or deny "certain secure information". 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 or confirmation by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is available. Due to prior propaganda and exaggerated claims, Russian sources are also not taken into account when putting together the map. Of the approximately 100 people who work for Deep State UA, 60 are tasked with verification of sources alone.

### 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

Being an Open Source Intelligence website, the map's authors have noted that the map is updated with a slight delay in information, and can only be updated when new information becomes available. It has been cautioned by the map's creators for this reason not to use the map when planning evacuation routes, combat areas, or other sensitive and highly specific activities. The authors have also delayed updating the map in situations where updating could potentially compromise Ukrainian positions on the ground, such as in situations where Ukrainian forces take positions in areas Russian forces have not yet realized. Map admin Ruslan Mykula claimed that 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".

## Media attention and use

The map, military analysis, and other information created or collected by Deep State UA have been cited by similar agencies and organizations; including the Ukrainian-based 24 Kanal, Ukrainska Pravda, Apostrophe TV [uk], Defense Express [uk], News Factory, Radio NV [uk], Texty.org.ua [uk], and Ukraine 24 [uk]. Deep State UA's work has also been cited by foreign organizations; including Forbes NBC News, and Vot Tak. Most notably, the map has been cited by the Center for Countering Disinformation, adviser of the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksii Arestovych and the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov.

News articles about the map itself or interviews with its creators have been conducted by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces, 24 Kanal, Defence Blog, Lrytas.lt, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Suspilne, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency, Fakty [uk], First Western [uk], and Ukraine 24 [uk].

