While many major Western companies left Russia after its February invasion of Ukraine, private sector assistance to the victim of the assault has been slow to develop.
Google (GOOGL) Trends shows that, after peaking in February, searches for "Ukraine war" declined steadily despite small bumps in September and October.
Back in March, tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) is fully suspended sales of new products in Russia and committed $35 million to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine -- both directly to help refugees forced to flee during the invasion and the $18 million in Microsoft technology meant to facilitate the logistics around organizing aid.
But even as the immediate flood of attention shifted, the situation in Ukraine has grown steadily worse in the nine months since the full-scale invasion.
With over $100 billion in damages, the war has destroyed more than 30% of the country's infrastructure while the United Nations estimates that more than 11 million Ukrainians (over a fourth of the country) are displaced both within Ukraine's and in neighboring European countries.
Microsoft Just Pledged More Help To Ukraine
Many Ukrainian cities are also under constant shelling -- as of October, the fighting has claimed more than 15,000 confirmed civilian lives. The actual death toll is likely much much higher, given Russia's total destruction of Mariupol, a city of more than 400,000 people.
As the situation on the ground deteriorates, Microsoft renewed its pledge to provide free tech support to those in the country throughout 2023 and committed to just under $100 million in additional funding.
"The continued defense of Ukraine depends in part on a critical digital alliance of countries, companies and nonprofits," President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post announcing the new funding commitment. "By disbursing digital infrastructure into the public cloud, Microsoft and others have supported critical Ukrainian services through data centers across Europe."
The company started by Bill Gates has announced new rounds of funding several times since February -- the latest one brings the total amount donated by Microsoft to over $400 million.
The latest funding was announced at Web Summit, a major technology conference taking place in Lisbon. Ukraine's government officials said that the digital assistance will go a long way to help the country ward off cyberattacks by Russia -- earlier this week, the British government announced that it had also been working with Ukraine to ward off a number of recent attacks on its governmental offices.
A Major Step Toward The War Effort
The United Kingdom has also pledged a £6 million (approximately $6.7 million USD) aid package for those ends. Microsoft also said that a portion of the funds will go directly to improving cybersecurity.
"Such important contribution to our victory by securing critical infrastructure and providing us cloud," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, wrote in a Twitter (TWTR) post. "Thank you, @BradSmi."
The pledge also comes at a point in the war during which Russia is attacking many of Ukraine's critical power and water infrastructure points to quash resistance to invasion through an energy crisis in the winter.
While the U.S. government pledged $2.98 billion in aid at the end of August, some tech companies have been stepping in specifically to help in this aspect.
"We recognize that many people, particularly across Europe, will make sacrifices this winter to support the defense of Ukraine," Smith wrote. "[...] We're confident that other tech companies will similarly step forward to sustain support that is vital not only for Ukraine, but for international stability and the protection of fundamental rights across Europe and around the world.
