• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, September 21, 2023

Defeating the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine will take more than just defeating and expelling Russian forces on the ground, air and sea. As with all wars, it is also about waging and winning the hearts, minds and support of the people -- not just in Ukraine and Russia, but around the world as well.

Winning the war of information, and defeating disinformation, will be so critical to determining the outcome of this war, the first major war fought with this kind of real-time, live-streamed coverage, all happening in an era of AI where you don’t know if what you are seeing is real or a deep-fake.

You can help. Here are some of the ways:

Learn and stay informed. It is critical to understand the history of Ukraine. I recommend “The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine” by historian Serhii Plokhy  and the books, writing and interviews of historian Timothy Snyder, particularly “Black Earth.”

Directly support the Information War freedom fighters of Ukraine. I highly recommend following and supporting the work of CFC Big Ideas, a Ukrainian strategic communication firm that is supporting the Ukraine Ministry of Defense, with donations, media inventory and social media support. Watch their recently released short video about child kidnappings and try not to tear up.

Help keep Ukraine’s economic engine running. Ukraine companies need our business and contracts, Ukraine entrepreneurs need funding, mentorship and business development support. All the people of Ukraine need our unwavering support. Tom Friedman captured it so well in his column earlier this week.

For my part, I am returning to Ukraine next week with fellow ad-tech entrepreneur Marty Kratky-Katz, the recently exited founder & CEO of Blockthrough. We are both going to speak at IT Arena, a super-important tech conference in Lviv, and to meet with tech, business and government leaders in both Lviv and Kyiv to learn and to help grow business, jobs and start-ups in Ukraine. Please reach out if you’d like to find out more about our work and to join in yourself.

We can all make a difference here. It matters.