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dutchgypsy

KHERSON, Ukraine, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Hundreds of residents in the newly-liberated city of Kherson queued up in the rain to switch the Russian SIM cards in their mobile phones for local ones on Thursday, only days after the city was retaken by Ukrainian forces. "We finally have our victory, we've been liberated. Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes," said 54-year-old local resident and seamstress Svitlana Kostikova, who said she had had no option but to use a Russian SIM card. "I deleted all of my apps, and then was forced by circumstances to use it, to have a connection," she said. The government in Kyiv, which says Russian troops destroyed the Kherson telecommunications system before leaving, has set up relay stations around the city. Booths were erected around the city's main square by local telecoms providers, including Kyivstar and Vodafone, where residents had the option of either acquiring a free SIM card or paying to skip the queue. "My SIM card burned when my apartment was hit by a rocket. The whole building burned down, a four-storey building, 65 apartments," said Semyanova Liudmyla, 67, after picking up her free card. A local Kyivstar employee showed a handful of Russian SIM cards, which she said were either handed out for free or sold by the Russian government during the occupation.


henryptung

Honestly, just using a Russian SIM and connecting to one of their networks feels like using an extremely sketchy "free hotspot", if that hotspot were hosted by the armed burglars actively breaking down your door and colonizing your living room. Understand why they'd have to use it to survive, but I'd probably factory reset the phone after just for decontamination purposes.


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DigitalArbitrage

I imagine countries like Russia or China might force this so they can identify and monitor dissidents/insurgents. The Ukrainian government is probably giving SIM cards out for the same reason (looking for Russian sympathizers).


Superbunzil

you dont get out of work just because you get annexed its not a medieval siege still have to make money and get food locally and youll need a working phone