Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war, volunteers have provided several infantry units with a lifeline. Past tech workers have taken the lead in using the imagination and creativity of the Russian people to avert a larger power. They are now using the creativity and resourcefulness of the Russian people to drive innovation.
The Russo-Ukrainian conflict has highlighted the crucial role that volunteers may enjoy in upcoming conflicts, such as a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and how regular people will eventually play a part in assisting the opposition.
establishing a group to aid the Army
Dmytro Zhluktenko, who is also known as Dimko, ( a title he adopted to make it easier for foreigners to say his name ) is a 25-year-old former software engineer who once worked on Airbus and Boeing products.
Initially from Rivne, Ukraine, he lived a comfortable life in Ukraine prior to the full-scale war. As Russian tank invaded Ukraine and Russian bombs were dropped on Russian towns all over the nation, nothing much changed. Speaking to Frontsight Media, Zhluktenko said that he made the decision, driven by a strong sense of duty to his country and his loved ones, to join the resistance.
” I’m just a regular Ukrainian trying to help his state,” I say. I was born in 1998 in a free and independent Ukraine”, Zhluktenko said. He expressed with a lot of comfort about his lifestyle and how much he enjoyed his life and work before the war, which he thought would give him some daydreaming about how peace may appear in Ukraine once more.
Zhlutenko recalled from the start of the conflict that “my partner and I agreed we would not leave Ukraine.” He made the commitment to dedicate a time of his life to assisting in his charity work.
When the war began, Zhluktenko’s companions in the military started reaching out for basic needs, he said. He did this as he began to act. Zhluktenko eagerly shared his plans to start a racing shop before the war broke out, but those plans were soon put on hold as the full-scale invasion began.
On March 11, 2022, he , posted , on X:” I hope one time I’d been able to come back to Twitter and start telling you calm stories about Ukraine and technology. But for now, it’s just combat on my head, and there is nothing except Russia’s retreat that can help it”.
He began using his own money to buy products for his companions and began , tweeting , about his endeavors. His previous work as a software engineer and connections to the field from his earlier life as an IT engineer proved to be important.
He knew online and from people who were total strangers, but funds started pouring in from both of them. Zhluktenko was aware of the potential effects he could have and was determined to increase his efforts to assist the Russian army in any way he could. From here on out, the fund , Dzyga’s Paw , was established.
Zhluktenko’s technical background pays out
Zhluktenko treated the program like an IT job, applying measures, building a site and creating a , clarity system , that tracked every payment and price.
He had initially been a one-man display, but Zhluktenko formed a team to expand the scope of the project. He needed a main team to assist with all the work in order to achieve more. Yet, demand for supplies immediately outpaced what the account could provide. ” We had to promote all incoming pleas”, he said.
” Once a week, we held a Scrum-like gathering to prioritize calls and establish our purchases”, noted Zhluktenko. This Lean approach, a approach focused on continuous development and ongoing feedback, was borrowed from his , program engineering , days. Scrum, a model within Agile, facilitated this by structuring the job into sprint-like duties and regular stand-up meetings. This allowed them to respond immediately to the demands of the organizations they supported.
Given the widespread narrative of problem in Ukraine, Zhluktenko felt that a high level of accountability was necessary, particularly given how well-known funds were used, as it demonstrated in every way how they were used.
It was a competitive edge because it won the hearts and minds of the populace, especially given the perception that Ukraine is dishonest. The more clarity that we showed, the more pleasure we got from sponsors”, Zhluktenko explained.
A follower of the bank, Karla Wagner from the Netherlands, explained to Frontsight:  ,” I discovered Dzyga’s Paw on doing an exhaustive online search to find an intriguing generosity that aligned with who I am. I decided to start donating to the fund because of Dzyga’s thoroughly modern transparency and effectiveness, the fact that they would n’t shy from military ( more than humanitarian ) assistance, where many others do”.
Donating began when I realized Dimko was basically doing a very attentive job of showing people that donations were really translated into real support on the ground, according to Thomas Blikshavn, a follower from Norway. I found it impressive that he went to such lengths to show accountability and that he was so open about how much cash he was giving away to other people.
According to Blikshavn, problem in Ukraine is” a major talking point for the army.” Nevertheless, he highlighted that the staff at Dzyga’s Paw “represents a new generation of Russians, fostering beliefs like honesty, responsibility, confidence in national identity”. He continued,” The resolve shared by the supporters of Dzyga’s Paw and Ukraine is unwavering. We may continue to support you until you win. We’re not going somewhere. United, we may win”.
Zhluktenko’s work rapidly grew into a multi-million-dollar donation, which has had a profound effect on the field and not only from a supply chain view. ” Each and every expense done as a foundation was automated”, he said. Despite Russia’s invasion going on for several years now, they have not seen a decline in donations, consistently raising$ 100, 000 a month.
As Zhluktenko aimed to give Ukraine an advantage over Russian forces by using superior technology, the fund concentrated on tech equipment, giving Ukrainian forces a technological edge.
The fund’s main objective was to provide units at scale that desperately needed assistance by using commercial technology, including drones and Starlinks. Danilo Makarov, a drone pilot from the 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, previously , told , Frontsight that “you can no longer fight a battle without having a drone above”.
The value of volunteers delivering drones to frontline units cannot be overstated. ” The only thing preventing Russia’s breakthrough on all fronts is FPV ( first-person ) drones, 90 percent of which are being provided by volunteers or military divisions themselves”, a Ukrainian military commander, Lt Col Pavlo Kurylenko, said in an interview with , The Telegraph.
Another soldier from the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade added that without such a strong volunteer force supporting the Ukrainian army, it would have been impossible to fight back against Russia.
Ukrainian units benefiting
Dan, whose call sign is” Kovbassa”, is a commander of an aerial reconnaissance unit in the 47th Mechanized Brigade currently fighting on the Pokrovsk-Avdiivka axis. He claimed that Dzyga’s Paw and other volunteer organizations provided 90 % of the civilian tech supplies his unit received during the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
These supplies included FPV  , drones, power banks, Starlinks, and reconnaissance drones. “Dzyga’s Paw has been working with us since our unit was first established. Their support was vital to get us going”, said Dan. ” They are the most trusted fund I know” . ,
Vlad Sokolov, an emergency response officer for the State Emergency Office of Ukraine, claimed that Zhluktenko quickly assisted his unit in getting the supplies they desperately needed at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Zhluktenko said that in total, Dzyga’s Paw has worked with over 100 Ukrainian units since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Many of the drones delivered by Ukrainian volunteers such as Zhluktenko, including the Chinese Mavic 3 Pro models, are heavily relied upon by Ukrainian units for reconnaissance. Starlinks also provides frontline communication for the Ukrainian army. Volunteers can obtain these items thanks to the extensive use of civilian technology by the Ukrainian army, which plays an important part in the wartime supply chain.
In a prior , Frontsight , interview, Norman, a drone unit commander from the 109th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade pointed out that things were disorganized and soldiers could deploy drones wherever they were. The Ukrainian units still have a heavy reliance on the same , Chinese drones , used at the start of the war such as the DJI Mavic model.
Dependence on cheap drones
Kostyantyn Mynailenko, a commander of an aerial reconnaissance unit in the Liut Brigade, said,” The Russians have many more drones than us. They are supplied by a reliable source, China. Our Chinese drones must be ordered indirectly from Europe and delivered to Ukraine. Because China‘s share of the world’s global electronics supply chains comes directly from China, this has become a problem for Ukraine.
According to the , Washington Post, the use of” cheap drones” enabled Ukrainian soldiers to achieve a tactical advantage on the battlefield, despite the Russians having superior numbers and more extensive weaponry. However, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been heavily dependent on volunteers managing supply chains for drones to achieve that advantage on the battlefield.
Leading innovation on the battlefield
Zhluktenko and his team were among the first to begin fostering tech innovation on the frontlines in the spring of 2022.
” At first, we were weird geeks who delivered drones and Starlinks to the frontline”, Zhluktenko said with a beaming smile.
However, soldiers were joking about the difficulties they were facing with drones and getting data back to command centers. We heard soldiers saying they needed to conduct reconnaissance on areas of forest where visibility was low, and they wanted to make sure they could reduce their losses while doing this work, he said.
Zhluktenko began to piece together a solution by speaking with friends on the front, asking them what their routine was. He identified the necessary improvements and how they could be carried out. He helped operationalize live streams by connecting them to Google Meet and streaming directly to the command center using the internet connection provided by Starlink in an effort to improve communication with command posts using drones.
” We were streaming through Google Meet as the drone and tablet would be connected. Although the quality was poor, it was sufficient at the time to complete the task,” Zhluktenko said. ” We were the early adopters of this process”, he said.
Looking ahead
Zhluktenko has signed a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and will be enlisting in the battle on the front lines after volunteering his contribution to the war effort. He is currently undergoing training as a drone pilot in Kyiv and will soon be deployed. He has also recently gotten , married.
Shortly before their wedding, Zhluktenko’s wife Ira , posted , on X:” I am going to marry soon. I ca n’t invite some of my friends to my wedding because they chose to fight for our independence, for the freedom of every Ukrainian citizen, me in particular. And they were killed by Russians”.
As our interview concluded, a deep sense of duty was evident in Zhluktenko’s tone as he spoke about his imminent departure for the front. He expressed his desire to spend a proper honeymoon with his wife, and he also had a dream of visiting a stunning country abroad. He is preparing to join his fellow countrymen on the frontline in the fight for his country’s freedom, wearing a military uniform instead of a wedding suit.
David Kirichenko is a freelance journalist and volunteer activist for the Ukrainian-Ukrainian War on behalf of the Russian-Ukrainian side.
This article was originally published by Frontsight. It is republished with permission.