Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO and founder at EPAM, four days after the beginning of the full-fledged invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine supported by the Republic of Belarus, made a statement on LinkedIn.

It wasn’t welcomed among the Ukrainian EPAM workers. In hundreds of comments, people asked Dobkin why he didn’t mention that the current situation in Ukraine is not just a crisis. It is the aggression of Russia supported by the self-declared president Lukashenka of Belarus. The specialists ask him to name things with their actual names and not avoid the truth in his statements. They also wonder why the company that has 14,000 workers in Kharkiv, Kherson, and Sumy, was silent so long.

Active EPAM Ukraine’s specialists became more radical and wrote directly to the top management of the company demanding some actions. The AIN.UA editorial board spoke with a dozen EPAM specialists who confirmed they didn’t expect such behavior from the leadership. A guy who sent letters to his colleagues asking them to transfer money to the Ukrainian Safelife fund has been blocked, and his letters have been discarded. The management also asked him not to send such letters to specialists in other countries, including the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

On February 28, the Ukrainian EPAM office announced a 10-mln-hryvnia donation for the Red Cross as humanitarian aid. The company reps also informed about the steps made after the invasion started. Instead of Dobkin, EPAM’s VP and former EPAM Ukraine’s CEO, Yuriy Antoniuk, condemned the Russian Federation’s aggression but without mentioning Belarus. His posts, however, also collected many angry comments appealing to his weak position as the company executive.

The same day, Dobkin sent another explaining letter to all employees (it is at the disposal of AIN.UA), full of emotions. But still, there was not a word that Russia and Belarus started a war against Ukraine.

The EPAM offices are located in all the cities as mentioned above.

The AIN.UA editors repeat Ukraine has no “crisis” but war with specific enemies. Russia, together with Belarus, attacked Ukraine — there is no other term acceptable. Providing financial support, aid, and volunteering is all up to you. But we believe that the things should be named with their actual names.