It’s very mixed feelings when you realize that you could also have been at an event that was attacked with ballistic missiles by the enemy army yesterday. As you know, 10 people died and about 100 were injured during a demonstration at a training ground in the Kyiv region.
It’s very mixed feelings when you realize that you could also have been at an event that was attacked with ballistic missiles by the enemy army yesterday. As you know, 10 people died and about 100 were injured during a demonstration at a training ground in the Kyiv region.
Like other journalists, I received an invitation — it arrived on WhatsApp on Monday, July 20. The invitation stated that participation in the event is only possible upon prior registration and confirmation by the organizer. The exact (or even approximate) location was not specified, which is common practice for defense-tech events.
I’ll be honest, I ignored the invitation, and there were several reasons for this, purely on a human and personal level: a heavy workload at work, combined with laziness, as well as a number of personal unfinished business, in particular, a complete decline at the dacha (the same house in the village that everyone advises to buy, but which also requires at least minimal involvement in maintaining its proper condition). In addition, just over a month ago, I had already attended another event of the ARMADA association, dedicated to private air defense and the Critically Protected project. So, since the topic was essentially the same, it did not arouse any purely journalistic interest in me. But that’s not what I’m talking about now…
Just returning from the same mentioned dacha, I saw and felt quite acrid smoke in the area of the Kyiv district. Before that, my wife, sitting next to me in the car, quoted a report from one of the news channels that Kyiv had been attacked with ballistic missiles half an hour ago. Having already reached home, reports began to appear that this was a defensive measure, and the tops of the Ukrainian defense industry and the public sector began to post on social networks one after another that everything was fine with them and to reassure those who were worried about them. Later, it became clear from the media that this was the «Critically Protected» measure, which was held by the association of manufacturers of unmanned systems and related technologies «ARMADA».
In parallel with this, social networks began to be filled with mass hate towards the organizers — how is this possible in the fifth year of a full-scale war? Although none of the thousands of commentators would probably be able to explain how this event differed from dozens and hundreds of others that are held almost every week in Kyiv and other cities. But the haters did not miss the opportunity to once again drive along Maria Berlinska due to the attack on the defensive measure in Chernihiv in the summer of 2023, and to recall the «precedent.»
Of course, I was not at this event (which is something that hardly anyone could regret in this situation), but talking about the lack of shelter in the conditions of a trip to the training ground is somehow completely divorced from reality. This is a field where there is an opportunity to demonstrate the operation of drones, electronic warfare systems and other military equipment. The only real safety measure in such a case, in my humble opinion, should be to keep such a field as far away from residential buildings and civilian infrastructure as possible, so as not to expose people not involved in the event to unnecessary danger. Of course, the events at the training grounds near Kyiv that I attended also did not have any shelter. And, probably, they could not have had any (at least one that would save from a direct ballistic attack).
At the same time, it seems that now, traditionally for our state, there is a search for the guilty, whom they really want to punish in a showy way to the joy of the same haters on social networks. It was especially unpleasant to see the message of the Prosecutor General, in particular, one of the aspects in it. I quote verbatim — «urgent searches were carried out in the association’s office and at the places of residence of persons who may be involved in organizing this event.» Kamon, yes, and what can law enforcement officers at least theoretically find in this case??? I understand that when it comes to a drug laboratory, they find drugs, when it comes to webcam models, which our law enforcement officers are so used to fighting, they find some computers or these models themselves. But what did they try to find in the office of the ARMADA association? Unless there were printed leaflets indicating the exact location of the event? But there were none.
The current development of defense-tech in Ukraine involves holding such events almost every week, even if they, purely theoretically (and, unfortunately, practically), expose their participants to danger. But to argue with a reasonable appearance that such events cannot or should not be held is an extremely primitive position of people who have no relation to the sphere of military technologies.
The Russians could have obtained this information from any of the hundreds of participants, just as they could have gained access to it by hacking certain communication channels. This is precisely what should be the subject of the investigation in the first place, and not the arrest of the formal organizer of the event and the subsequent search for facts of his guilt.
Of course, if there was even minimal negligence in leaking information about this event, the guilty should be punished. But if there was no such negligence, and the event was held according to the general canons of the industry, then we would really not like to see the showy «witch hunt» that any government is so accustomed to. Probably not only the current one and not only the Ukrainian one.
