Ukraine’s Digital Transformation, With a Little Help From Its Friends

Four years into its invasion, Ukraine marches on its path toward digital transformation through resilience and partnerships with European Union (EU) nations. 

Funded by the EU and implemented by Estonian and Spanish counterparts, efforts are underway to bolster Ukraine’s digital infrastructure, drive interoperability and protect critical data. 

Beginning in October 2020 and ending in November 2025, EU4DigitalUA was a project managed by Estonia’s e-Governance Academy (eGA), as well as Spain’s Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations, or FIAP. 

“The [EU] remains firmly committed to standing with Ukraine during these challenging times of full-scale war,” said EU Delegation of Ukraine representative Asier Santillan Luzuriaga during a June 2025 steering committee meeting. “By working hand in hand with Ukraine, we aim to strengthen its digital infrastructure, safeguard its critical information resources and protect the well-being of its citizens.”

With responsibilities divided between the two organizations, while closely working with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, the total EU4DigitalUA budget was 20.5 million euros, almost evenly split between FIAP and eGA.

EGA was in charge of leading projects to further digital infrastructure, interoperability, e-service development and cybersecurity, said Anton Yermakov, the organization’s communications manager. FIAP led communication support, institutional support and data protection, however.

The program wouldn’t have existed without significant moments in recent history, Yermakov explained. “Frankly, it’s difficult to talk about EU4DigitalUA itself if you’re not looking at the previous projects, and projects that followed,” he told SIGNAL Media.

“eGA has been in Ukraine since 2012; those were small regional projects,” Yermakov continued. “Then the Revolution of Dignity happened, and the support shifted more to the central level,” he added, referring to the 2013-2014 pro-democracy Ukrainian revolution that led to the death of more than 100 people. As the pro-Russian government was ousted, the events led to the annexation of Crimea by Russian forces and the eventual invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

“In 2016, the first big EU and its member states’ support program, U-LEAD, kicked off and a part of this big initiative was the EGOV4Ukraine project. [These] were some cornerstones of Ukraine’s digitalization,” Yermakov explained. “Developing on these cornerstones were results for EU4DigitalUA and then the follow-up projects,” he said, referencing further initiatives like Digital Transformation for Ukraine (DT4UA), implemented by eGA.

During EGOV4Ukraine, the Trembita system was created, a word that directly translates to a pipe or horn-like instrument that shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains used to communicate with one another. 

“Basically, it’s the interoperability system for secure data exchange between the registers and information systems of the state,” Yermakov said. The later launch of EU4DigitalUA helped further develop the platform to integrate secure gateways and seamlessly include significantly more users, from 1 million transactions to 5 billion.

“The [Trembita] system started back in 2020 when there was no war whatsoever,” Yermakov continued. “After the war, Trembita was used to connect the registers, for example, of the internally displaced people and some other states’ systems and it allowed to provide new war-related [electronic] services.”

A 2025 joint report on DT4UA outlined Trembita’s biggest accomplishments, including more than 12 billion exchanges since its launch and 176 registers connected. “Trembita is a system for fast and secure data exchange between registers of government agencies,” the report reads. “It allows citizens and businesses to use e-services without unnecessary paperwork …”

DT4UA, a project operated by eGA, kicked off at the end of 2021 and closed in December 2025. Through the program, Trembita 2.0 was developed and is now being implemented within DT4UA’s second phase, integrating “international cryptographic algorithms [that] enable cross-border interoperability,” according to the report. “Thanks to this innovative solution, Trembita will record who, when and why has viewed the personal data of Ukrainians, and the citizen will receive notifications if an official has received information about him [or] her.”

Within the EU4DigitalUA program, however, another major achievement was the implementation of an electronic signature service known as Diia.Signature. Today, Diia is an ecosystem including an app, a web portal and more, with more than 23 million users of the application as of the end of 2025. The project has been supported by many other donor organizations. 

“During wartime, they introduced some essential things like radio or the map of shelters,” Yermakov said of the Diia application. “You can also buy war bonds there, so it’s kind of a Swiss army knife for the [electronic interaction with the state].” The app even includes voting for Eurovision, he said.

The capability’s e-signature tools allow for facial recognition and identity verification in a faster and more seamless manner. “Ukraine is the first state in the world in which digital passports have become full legal counterparts of paper documents,” the Diia website reads.

As digital transformation efforts continue, the genesis of today’s progress was due to political will, Yermakov explained. “Before 2019, there were some steps toward digitalization, but there was the e-Governance Agency; it was not on the ministry level, so it was more difficult to implement things,” he said. Those efforts were part of the initial stage, however.

“Then, President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy came, and one of his campaign messages was to build a state in a smartphone,” Yermakov recalled, referencing the Ukrainian leader’s speech during Kyiv’s iForum conference in 2019. 

“It would be cool when you drive to work and not only get the news, information about the weather forecast, but you also control the draft laws submitted, can change them, see what people are being elected and how you can revoke them, what petitions are being drafted,” Zelenskyy said during his address to an audience of IT professionals. “This is why I dream about our country in a smartphone.” 

Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Digital Transformation was created, building more authority for change. Minister Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed to lead the ministry in 2019 and has delivered, Yermakov said. 

“Thanks to this political will, the decisions were implemented, because before 2019, all those central-level authorities and ministries didn’t want to share the data; they were protecting it,” he said. “You need time to build up the trust, to have the proper leverage to make those things work.”

Regarding EU4DigitalUA initiatives, one of the greatest challenges was operating during a full-scale war, said Miguel Angel Lombardo, FIAP coordinator. “Ukraine’s institutions had to balance reform efforts with immediate crisis response, security concerns and constant operational pressure.”

Still, through cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the program helped advance Ukraine’s digital integration with the EU, “helping align national legislation with European standards and contributing to the country’s participation in the Digital Economy and Society Index.”

Achievements also included the launch of the Unified National Information System for digital project coordination; the development of the ePermit electronic permit system; and the introduction of Ukraine’s first AI-powered state service for automatic document verification.

Additionally, Lombardo noted, the program successfully aided in the release of the 700 MHz radio frequency band, which paved the way for 5G development. FIAP also helped in “the development of the National Semiconductor Strategy and Chips Act UA,” among many other critical efforts to shape Ukraine’s digital transformation.

Lombardo also echoed Yermakov’s statements, adding that “Ukraine’s commitment to reform remained remarkably strong, and the project demonstrated that digital transformation can continue even in the most difficult conditions when there is political will and international support.”

In an email to SIGNAL Media, Lombardo indicated plans for a 2026 project focused on supporting Ukraine’s cyber resilience capacities.