- A man told the Insider that his AirPods had disappeared from his apartment in Ukraine during the Russian occupation.
- The man, Vitaly Semenets, uses Apple’s Find Me feature to track them to a region in Russia.
- The obvious path of the devices corresponds to that which is believed to have been taken by Russian forces.
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A Ukrainian says he has been tracking the location of his AirPods for evidence of Russian troop movements after his apartment was looted during the occupation of his hometown.
Vitaly Semenets told Insider that he used Apple’s “Find My” feature to track his AirPods, which were taken from his home near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, and found that they were in the Belgorod region of Russia, on the other side of the border with Ukraine.
“They were somewhere in Russia,” he told Insider, adding that he was surprised, so he decided to post on Instagram.
“Thanks to technology, I know where my AirPods are now. It was looted by Russian orcs from my home in Hostomel, “Semenets said in an Instagram post.
Vitaly Semenets sent Insider a screenshot of Apple’s “Find My” feature, which he said shows that his AirPods were in Russia. Vitaly Semenets
Semenets told Insider that he and his family left the city of Hostomel in the first few days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and traveled to Mukachevo in the western part of the country. He said he returned to his home in Hostomel on Saturday after neighbors who remained in the city sent him videos showing that his apartment had been searched.
Hostomel is located northwest of Kyiv, from where Russian forces began withdrawing earlier this month after six weeks of fighting in which they failed to capture the capital.
Semenets, who told Insider that he had alerted Ukrainian intelligence to the movements of his AirPods, said the Find My feature showed that they were last activated on April 9. A screenshot of the feature shows that the headphones were close to Russia’s border with Ukraine at the time. The devices have not updated their location since, Semenets said.
Semenets said the location of his AirPods reflected what he had heard from Ukrainian authorities about the movement of Russian troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Russian forces have launched a new offensive in Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine bordering Russia.
Semenets also found that some of his other electronic goods were missing, including his Nintendo Switch and his Microsoft laptop. He is unable to track these devices, he said.
Semenets sent photos of his home to Insider, describing it as “badly damaged”. He said his wife’s car was also damaged by shelling in the city.
Semenets said his home in Hostomel, Ukraine, was searched while the city was occupied by Russian troops. Vitaly Semenets Semenets said his home in Hostomel had been searched. Vitaly Semenets Semenets said his wife’s car was damaged in the Russian shelling in Hostomel. Vitaly Semenets
Ukraine’s defense ministry said earlier this month that Russian troops had looted Ukrainian homes and sold some of the stolen goods to Belarus. Leaked CCTV footage shows some soldiers sent items such as washing machines, laptops and electronic scooters to their families back in Russia, according to The Times.
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