Various methods of notifying the population about Russian drones, missiles, and other threats have been tested in Ukraine. Residents have abandoned loud mobile broadcasting alerts on their phones and use them rarely, writes LSM+. Ukrainians more often receive information about attacks through applications that they download on their phones or in Telegram channels.
In Kharkiv — a city located just a few dozen kilometers from the Russian border and even closer to the front line — only a few react when they hear air raid sirens in the streets. A similar situation exists in the capital, Kyiv. Just recently, Russian missiles and drones took several lives and destroyed a market, a museum, and residential buildings. Residents say it is impossible to live in constant fear, especially for years.
"Yes, I fear for my family. I send them to the shelter while I stay. I stay in the apartment; I fear for them, it makes me calmer because I am used to it, as I go to the front," said volunteer Anna-Maria Melnyk.
"Now I no longer react the way I did at the beginning of the war. The feeling of fear has dulled.
A missile fell near our house, and a 12-year-old boy died. It was a great tragedy, there were many injured. That day, our residential area was shelled from all sides. There were five or six shellings. At that time, we hid in the shelter. Now it is not so scary. Sometimes I just draw the curtains. I decided that the curtains would be enough," she continued.
Initially, mobile broadcasting was used, but it was gradually abandoned as residents increasingly preferred to turn off any emergency notifications in their mobile phone settings.
Now, applications are used that everyone can customize individually, choosing the type and volume of notifications.
"For example, in Kyiv, we have a special application — 'Kyiv Digital.' It collects all operational information about Kyiv. There are also news about where to buy bus tickets, some small city news. But as an additional feature — the ability to turn on notifications about air raids," explained Nikita Holovchenko, a representative of the Kyiv Center for Journalistic Solidarity.
"Here today, yesterday — a kind of history," Holovchenko said, showing the application.
He mentioned that there have been no problems with the application so far, and it worked even when a large number of people connected to it simultaneously. This application is specifically designed for Kyiv, but there are others where one can mark other regions of interest. Users can choose whether to receive only a quiet vibration or a loud warning signal similar to mobile broadcasting. The application also immediately displays the type of alert.
"In some regions, air raid alerts are announced very frequently because they attack not only these regions but also others — more distant ones. There are transit drones and missiles that fly over your region.
If residents of these areas react to every air raid alert, they will not be able to work or live. They will be constantly sitting in bunkers and will not be able to exist normally.
Of course, in some situations, it is dangerous, but that is the reality of frontline regions," Holovchenko said.
For example, in some regions, there can be ten alerts or more in a day.
"It's a good idea to give people the option to choose how to receive air raid notifications. So that they can choose — to turn it on or off. But it should be taken into account that it can be heard outside. At night while sleeping, one can hear sirens outside, while the phone will be silent. And then one can decide — to get up or continue sleeping," Holovchenko noted.
However, residents of Ukraine have another convenient tool.
"In our Telegram channel, we basically have everything," Melnyk said.
"I can say that I turned off notifications in the application in Kyiv," Holovchenko shared. "Because I see these notifications in Telegram. But without sound. Because here it is like this: if there is really a major attack, it can be heard everywhere by everyone. But if it is a small alert, when a few drones have entered the Kyiv region, especially if it is somewhere 100 kilometers away, there is no point in receiving an air raid alert. It is not very pleasant to constantly hear about all air raid alerts," he continued.
Ukraine has an official information channel on Telegram. Information with descriptions of attacks is posted very promptly there.
This is what local residents emphasize: there is no one universal way to alert the population about every danger. There is a set of tools — applications that can work on the principle of mobile broadcasting, an informational Telegram channel, alerts on television and radio, as well as city sirens. Meanwhile, mobile broadcasting is used less frequently and only in certain parts of Ukraine.
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