The twenty fourth of February 2022 is a day Ronnie Apteker – and thousands and thousands of his countrymen in his adopted residence of Ukraine – will always remember.
Apteker wakened early that morning – as thousands and thousands of others did – to the sound of bombs and missiles raining down. After months of army build-up alongside Ukraine’s jap flank, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had ordered a full-scale invasion.
On this particular version of the TechCentral Present, we chat to Apteker – a pioneer in South Africa’s web trade – about his life in Ukraine amid the continuing warfare.
Apteker has a storied profession as co-founder of Web Options, certainly one of South Africa’s first and most profitable web service suppliers. He’s additionally nicely often called a producer and promoter of films, together with Materials and Past the River.
In 2015 Apteker purchased an house in Kyiv and began a brand new life within the metropolis, attracted by the nation’s numerous tech scene and its extremely magnificence.
He had established a brand new and promising life for himself in Ukraine – he married a neighborhood lady, Marta, with whom he has a younger boy (affectionately referred to as “the Bunster”). Each Marta and the Bunster at the moment are refugees from the warfare, residing in Poland.
By no means in 1,000,000 years did Apteker anticipate he could be caught up in a significant battle, by no means thoughts the largest land warfare in Europe since World Warfare 2.
As we speak his life includes transferring between Poland and Kyiv, the place he has pals in addition to enterprise pursuits within the tech sector which he continues to nurture regardless of the chaos attributable to Putin’s aggression.
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On this typically emotionally uncooked interview, Apteker tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about why he left South Africa to go and reside in Ukraine, how the warfare began (he wakened early one morning to missiles raining down on Kyiv), what it’s wish to reside in a warzone, and the way he’s dealing with the each day hardships attributable to the battle.
Apteker, who is understood for his depraved sense of humour – in a earlier life he was even briefly a humorist – admits it’s been exceptionally troublesome to remain constructive concerning the future, however that he’s managed to maintain going even us Putin’s warfare machine grinds on.
Within the interview, Apteker chats about his each day life now and what it entails; the US election, and why Ukrainians concern one other Donald Trump presidency; the brand new documentary movie concerning the warfare that he’s been engaged on; his ardour for moviemaking; and why love is crucial factor on the planet.
Don’t miss the interview.
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