The State Of Ukraine Media During The War With Russia [INTERVIEW]

Since early 2022, the world has been privilege to Ukraine media live on news channels and social media. But not many have done Ukraine media analysis, how this affects the country, its people and the business climate. We do that for you here...

Interview with Dmitriy Martynchuk of Gravitec.net

The 2022 Ukraine Media Landscape From A Ukrainian's Perspective

Earlier this year, the world changed when Vladimir Putin, leader of Russia, sent invading troops into Ukraine. This may not have shocked some. However, it has been a constant news story since. Much of our world has learned about:

• Where Ukraine is
• Who Volodymyr Zelenskyy is
• Ukraine's country neighbors
• Incredible and heartwarming assistance from European citizens
• Refugee transport within the region
• Individuals and groups doing good deeds
• Constant destruction of Ukrainian places

And how all of this affects business, agriculture and supply chain -- both in Ukraine and around the world.

Some of my readers know that I used to work with young Ukrainian leaders as part of my previous work. I was fortunate enough to learn how wonderful the Ukrainian people are, and how important the nation is to our world.

I was contacted by a Ukrainian professional in a tangible field to mine. Absolutely I agreed to help in the way I could ... Sharing his message, and the message of many in Ukraine. Below are questions I asked of Dmitriy Martynchuk of Gravitec.net and his answers. A digital interview.

Together, we paint the picture for you of The State Of Ukraine Media During The War With Russia. My questions in bold purple, his answers directly below each question...

Q: What does Gravitec do? What is your company's purpose?

Gravitec.net is a leading Ukrainian web push notifications service. Online Media (news websites, blogs, etc.) use Gravitec.net to establish contact with readers and automatically inform them of new articles published on their websites. Gravitec.net has many unique features to automate push campaigns and interact with subscribers, has an easy-t0-use interface, and a WordPress plugin.

Gravitec.net is one of the top 5 best web push services in the world according to Builtwith. 

Most news media in Ukraine use the Gravitec.net service to send breaking news to their subscribers. 

Our purpose is to provide access to information sources to everyone who needs it. And that is why we have focused on the development of our service specifically for online media.

Q: What is your role within the organization?

I'm a Head of Growth. Responsible for Sales and New Market Development.

Q: Who/what is your ideal customer?

According to our ICP, our ideal client is a news or information site/blog with more than 300K visitors per month.

Q: Where is Gravitec located (region within the country, or if you are a remote team)?

The main office of the company is located in Kyiv. We also have an office in Warsaw. Now during the war, the employees responsible for the technical support of the service are in Poland. The rest are also in a safe place. I'm in Kyiv.

Q: What are you seeing on a daily basis (business & life)?

When the war began, of course, there was some panic and it took a while for people to organize themselves, make necessary decisions and act. The main goal for most of the families was to find a safe place. Thus my wife and kid, like many mothers with children, went to Europe in the first days of the war. 

Those who still had jobs and what to do began to work even harder. The rest either became active volunteers or went to serve in the army or territorial defense. And this is common not only for IT but for the rest of businesses as well.

In terms of volunteering, there are many areas where people help the country. Some actively help the army with things like bulletproof vests, thermal imagers, personal protective equipment, etc. Some help residents who have suffered in the occupied and front-line territories and strengthen humanitarian support. Some actively help doctors and provide access to necessary medicines. And, of course, most of these areas of support require active fundraising. Our employees are actively engaged as well.

In addition, Gravitec.net together with major media and the Association of Independent Media of Ukraine started to collect the needs of all independent news sites and help continue to do journalists' work safely and efficiently. We understand that now prompt access to truthful information is very important. We have opened free access to our service to many news resources and are looking for opportunities to make it completely free for everyone in Ukraine.

Now heavy fighting is being waged in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. However, rockets arrive in almost all major cities. There are no safe places in Ukraine. 

We greatly appreciate the help that the entire democratic world is giving us. We believe in our army and we believe that we will win.

Q: Please describe the positive and negative effects of current conditions on your business.

When the war started, we decided to block access and stop working with customers from Russia and Belarus. Of course, this has a negative side effect in revenue decrease as those were quite big markets for us. 

Also, many clients from Ukraine are not able to pay for our service right now. We've lost half of our paying customers. 

But now we understand how important it is to open and develop new markets, and we also understand how important is our service and web push communication channel when you urgently need to inform your readers about what is happening. Push notifications are delivered to the computer screen or mobile phone even when the Internet is very weak.

Here are some quotes from our clients:

“Push notifications are just excellent not only for bringing new traffic but rather to deliver 100% accurate information from proven media to people at the times when it’s too many suspicious channels.” 

Informator.ua, CEO — Vladimir Kolisnichenko

“Push notifications are important to us because they help us closely communicate with readers and highlight key daily events. Plus, they make a stable source of traffic. As the profitability of Ukrainian media was reduced by almost three times, we have to back out of paid tools, because we can’t recoup them. Our main goal now is to provide readers with accurate information and save jobs”

Today.ua, CEO, Chief Editor — Eugene Shvedov

It inspires us! 

Q: Your observations of Zelenskyy and his leadership.

To be honest, I didn’t believe in Zelensky before and was unhappy when he was elected. But during the war, my opinion was radically reversed. Now I am proud that we have such a president and the level of confidence is the highest possible!  

A lot of people around me have the same opinion.

Now everything has become completely transparent - everyone knows who is a friend and who is an enemy; what's right and what's wrong.

Q: What do you/your organization need that is missing at this time?

We need to keep our Country, our people, and our economy. So the easiest way to support us is through donation — https://gravitec.net/help-media.

If you can't donate, please share the information on your social media or if you have any other ideas on how to help, please contact us at [email protected].

With received donations, we'll cover the most urgent needs of journalists and editors such as:

• Body armor and helmets for military journalists
• First aid kits
• Binoculars and sleeping bags
• Satellite phones, walkie-talkies, and Starlinks
• Computers, protected laptops, and power banks with solar batteries
• Fuel for cars
• Software to secure and store information
• Rent to ensure home and offices for editorial staff who work in evacuation conditions.

We will be providing a detailed report of how the funds were used.

Q: How your organization plans to go forward now, into the future, and, God forbid, if Putin wins?

I don't even think about that. We all believe 100% that we will win. Everyone is ready to go to defend their homeland. But one thing I know for sure, we will not live and work as Putin slaves.

Q: Please share important details about the climate of Media in Ukraine at this time.

The importance of the media is now enormous. All residents follow the news very actively and constantly monitor important changes in the military situation. In addition, a big war is being waged by our journalists and IT specialists on the information front. It is very important to dispel or block fake Russian media as quickly as possible and promptly convey truthful and up-to-date information to citizens. Especially in the front-line territories and in the territories that fell under occupation.

At the same time, it is very important to consider how dangerous the work of a military journalist is now. Since the beginning of the war, more than 20 journalists have died and many more have been injured. There are not enough:

• Bulletproof vests
• Helmets
• Medical kits

For personal protection.

Previously, independent media were financed mainly from advertising. Now this income item has fallen to almost 0. Accordingly, there is a huge need to finance the basic minimum costs:

• Fuel for cars
• Equipment
• Salaries to employees

Etc.

Q: What is your organization doing to help and how can people be a part and champion your cause?

Roughly 60% of Ukrainian media use Gravitec.net to deliver breaking news to 10M+ readers including those people who are currently in the cities under attack.

Our initiative of helping Ukraine media is supported by the Ukrainian Startup Fund, YEP incubator, Association of Regional Publishers of Ukraine, Foundation to support Ukrainian startup Founders.

Since the beginning of the war Ukrainian media have almost lost their income. Such questions as survival of their staff and family, and ability to continue to cover news in a war situation have become vital.

How do we help Ukrainian media?

• We provide push notifications to Ukrainian media free of charge so that they continue to quickly inform readers about breaking news.
• We collect funds for the urgent needs of Ukrainian media to help military journalists and editorial staff, who with the risk to their lives continue to gather and broadcast accurate information about current events.

And we invite you to join.

About Dmitriy Martynchuk

Dmitriy has been working in the IT field for over ten years. Four years ago he joined Gravitec.net as an Head of Growth specializing in services for online media
development. He is an active volunteer helping a military hospital with supplying. He co-founded Charitable School Smart Future a foundation providing free education to orphans, children with disabilities and large families. Connect with Dmitriy on LinkedIn.