Amidst war, Ukraine minister makes appearance at U.S. tech fest
The Hindu
Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, even prior to the war, has exhorted technology companies around the world – predominantly in the United States
An annual technology conference in Las Vegas that typically hosts coders and computer scientists had an unusual visitor: Mykhailo Albertovych Fedorov, one of Ukraine’s three Vice Prime Ministers, and the war-ravaged country’s youngest Cabinet minister at 31.
As Minister of Digital Transformation, Fedorov has for months appealed to Silicon Valley czars and technology leaders for help and assistance. In May, Mr. Fedorov tweeted out to Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, for help with restoring communication facilities after Russian attacks damaged their mobile and telecommunications infrastructure. This led to terminals from Mr. Musk’s satellite company, Starlink, been shipped to Ukraine.
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The war, which has been on since February this year and is in its first winter, has left thousands of Ukrainians without access to electricity, heating and communication infrastructure. This has prompted more vocal support from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) members - of which the United States is a founding member - to help bolster energy infrastructure and weapons to counter Russia.
At re:Invent, an annual, flagship technology conference, organised by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mr. Fedorov was present in person and described the ongoing war as “…the most technologically advanced war in human history…” and on stage signed an agreement with AWS that committed to helping Ukraine bolster its digital infrastructure.
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Mr. Fedorov, even prior to the war, has exhorted technology companies around the world – predominantly in the United States – to help the country move its digital data into cloud based applications.