Google has expanded its partnership with Kyiv to integrate AI-powered city services and accessibility data into Google Maps, as the tech company’s $45+ million Ukraine support program evolves beyond initial emergency response.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko met with Google Europe Vice President Annette Kroeber-Riehl on 10 September to discuss integrating municipal data into the world’s most widely used mapping platform.

Kroeber-Riehl and Klitschko discussed integrating Kyiv’s accessibility route data and bomb shelter locations into Google Maps, using Google’s AI developments for transportation modeling and urban planning.

“We discussed possibilities for integrating municipal data on accessibility, barrier-free routes, shelters on Google Maps; using Google developments in the field of artificial intelligence for transport modeling and urban planning,” Klitschko posted on Telegram.

Kyiv’s digital transformation during wartime

Kyiv’s digital infrastructure has expanded dramatically since Russia’s invasion. The city’s Kyiv Digital app, launched in 2021, now serves 3.3 million users—nearly the entire adult population of Kyiv and surrounding areas—with 37 services.

The platform combines traditional city services like public transport tickets and parking payments with wartime necessities, including air raid alerts, bomb shelter locations, and information about available food and medical supplies.

During the meeting, Google representatives acknowledged the Ukrainian capital’s achievements in digitizing urban services, with Klitschko expressing interest in further bilateral cooperation between Kyiv and Google.

Since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, Google has provided over $45 million in financial assistance and more than $10 million in technical solutions.

The company’s support includes 50,000 Google Workspace licenses for the Ukrainian government, expanded Project Shield protection against cyberattacks, and a $10 million startup fund running through 2025.

The partnership represents Google’s continued engagement with Ukraine as the war enters its fourth year, expanding from initial emergency cybersecurity support to long-term urban development projects.

Emergency services in Kyiv have recovered fragments of cluster munitions following the overnight Russian missile and drone attack on June 17, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported, calling it further evidence of Russia's "genocide" against Ukrainians.

"In the capital's Nyvky neighborhood, emergency workers are now finding these kinds of cluster munition parts," Klitschko said in a statement shared on social media. "Another clear sign of the genocide Russia is committing against Ukrainians."

Cluster munitions are banned under international law by more than 100 countries due to their indiscriminate nature and the long-term threat they pose to civilians, especially when unexploded submunitions remain hidden in residential areas.

While Russia and Ukraine are not signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, international humanitarian organizations have repeatedly condemned the use of such weapons in populated areas. Ukraine uses cluster munitions on the battlefield against Russian forces.

The mayor's comments came hours after one of the largest and deadliest attacks on the Ukrainian capital in months, in which at least 15 people were killed and nearly 100 injured. The Russian strike, which lasted nearly nine hours, included waves of kamikaze drones, ballistic missiles, and what authorities now confirm were banned explosive parts.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the assault "one of the most horrifying attacks on Kyiv," saying more than 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched across Ukraine overnight.

"Such attacks are pure terrorism," he said in a statement on social media. "And the whole world, the U.S., and Europe must finally respond as civilized societies respond to terrorists."

Zelensky confirmed that damage had been reported in eight districts of Kyiv, with emergency workers still searching for survivors beneath the rubble of a destroyed apartment block.

He added that strikes also hit Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv regions. "Fifteen people are confirmed dead. My condolences to their families and loved ones," Zelensky said.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also condemned the attack, calling it a "massive and brutal strike" timed deliberately to coincide with the G7 summit, which is taking place in Canada on June 16-17.

Russian drone strike on Odesa injures 13, including 1 child

Russian drone strikes on Odesa early June 17 injured 13 people, including one child, regional authorities reported.

The Kyiv IndependentLucy Pakhnyuk