Alongside other responses, Google announced this evening that its Voice VoIP service and Fi MVNO are waiving calling fees to Ukraine. The company also provided an update on Project Shield protections.
Like other carriers in the past week, Google Fi has waived international calling fees from Ukraine and from the US to Ukraine. Google Voice is also offering free calls with the following per minute Ukraine rates now $0.00 for personal Gmail accounts:
- Ukraine – Kiev
- Ukraine – Landline
- Ukraine – Lviv
- Ukraine – Mobile
- Ukraine – Mobile – Astelit
Meanwhile, Google said it continues to “see DDoS attempts against numerous Ukraine sites, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as services like Liveuamap designed to help people find information.” Its Project Shield service protects over 150 websites in Ukraine. This includes news publications and and humanitarian organizations, as well as Ukrainian government and embassy websites according to today’s updated blog post:
We have expanded eligibility for Project Shield, our free protection against DDoS attacks, so that Ukrainian government websites, embassies worldwide and other governments in close proximity to the conflict can stay online, protect themselves and continue to offer their crucial services.
Google says it has “communicated its availability to Ukraine government representatives.”
The Play Store in Ukraine is also highlighting the Ukrainian Alarm (Повітряна тривога) app so that Android users can get official air raid sirens on their phone:
This app was created by Ukrainian developers in cooperation with the Ukrainian government to give people better air raid warnings.
Google Cloud credits are being offered to humanitarian organizations, while the company is committing $10 million to “organizations delivering both immediate humanitarian aid and longer-term assistance for refugees in Poland.” It joins Google’s previous $15 million commitment split between employee matching, direct grants, and advertising credits.
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
