Wartime Digital Resilience

(Illustration by Alex Sholom)

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, technology was already a growing part of the Ukrainian economy and was central to the government’s vision to reimagine the way citizens and businesses interact with the state in the digital era: paperless, cashless, and without bureaucracy. Even before the conflict, we in government believed that technology holds the promise of making government more transparent, efficient, and accountable, empower citizens, increase participation, and combat corruption.

However, technology has become even more central to helping the country defend itself and mitigate the effect of Russian attacks on civilians. As a result, Ukraine has emerged as a leading example of digital innovation and resilience in the face of challenges, particularly through its gov-tech solutions, using digital governance capacities to maintain basic governance functions in crisis situations and showing a strong case for digital public innovation to support its people. Digital government plays a central role in Ukraine’s ability to continue to fight for its very existence and respond to the aggressor.

Leadership for Digital Transformation

Change begins with leadership. Long before the invasion, President Zelenskyy campaigned on building a “state in a smartphone,” aiming to reduce paperwork, bureaucracy, and corruption by emulating the business service delivery models of tech companies like Uber and Airbnb. An important institutional measure in bring this vision to life was the creation of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, a stand-alone Ministry headed by Vice-Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. Mykhailo entered government from marketing with no political or governmental experience and brought with him a team of young, tech-savvy people motivated to make change (around 50 percent of the Ministry staff did not have civil service experience). In addition, a system of chief digital transformation officers (CDTOs) was created, with appointments at every agency on all levels, from national to regional, responsible for digital transformation on the ground.

The introduction of the e-governance platform “Diia” in 2020 marked a significant milestone in prioritizing public service delivery on digital-first and mobile-first principles. Diia, meaning “Action” in Ukrainian, represented a comprehensive digital ecosystem, enabling citizens access to digital versions of basic documents: national ID card, passport, student ID, driver's license, vehicle registration certificate, vehicle insurance policy, tax number, migrant certificate, COVID certificate, and pension certificate. Ukraine became the first country in the world with a digital passport that served as the full legal analogy of ordinary physical documents and only the fourth country in Europe with a digital driver's license. Almost 120 digital services have been introduced in Ukraine since 2019 (52 of them during the war), and the number continues to grow. Nearly 19 million Ukrainians, or about half of Ukraine's population, use Diia.

Public Digital Infrastructure Development

Building digital capacity and developing public digital infrastructure in advance has not only helped keep society functioning but has enabled citizens to contribute to the defense effort.

In the early months of the war, approximately 12 million people were displaced, with a significant majority being women protecting their children. Given the circumstances, there was an urgent need for portable and internationally recognized digital identity solutions to help individuals establish their identity despite losing physical documentation. Diia played a crucial role in this regard, and some neighboring countries acknowledged the validity of digital documents from Diia on an ad hoc basis. To facilitate understanding and integration, Ukraine collaborated with these countries to explain the functionality of Ukrainian digital documents and explore scenarios for validation and sharing. As a temporary measure, Ukraine allowed anyone to verify digital driver's licenses directly through the government website by entering the license series, number, and owner's date of birth, ensuring quick access to information.

Russia’s constant attacks on the country's domestic digital infrastructure—telecommunications stations, government data centers, and broadcast towers—incentivized the use of international infrastructure. For example, Ukrainian data protection laws were amended to allow the government to process data in the cloud abroad, and the Government has worked closely with technology companies like Microsoft and Amazon to transfer sensitive government data outside the country. In addition, the Ukrainian government switched to satellite internet technology to ensure a stable internet connection for critical infrastructure and important facilities, including medical, energy, education, and business. Ukraine has the largest number of Starlink terminals, with more than 30,000 terminals, most of which were donated by SpaceX company, EU countries, and partners. After their de-occupation, the government also helped restore communication in Irpin, Bucha, Borodyanka, and other regions.

Despite the challenges posed by the war, the Ukrainian government has expanded its efforts in providing digital public services as a means to compensate for the limitations caused by the destruction of physical infrastructure and the displacement of citizens. Diia emerged as a vital instrument: shortly after the war began, the government reached out to displaced Ukrainians through Diia, enabling nearly half a million people to self-register as internally displaced and access online services for cash transfers and other forms of assistance. This digital solution was used to register displaced individuals and facilitate direct applications for monthly cash assistance to meet the humanitarian needs of their families. The availability of multi-purpose cash assistance reduced the severity of their immediate requirements, addressing a common issue in crisis situations where displaced individuals often lack the necessary documentation to qualify for state support.

The range of e-services continued to scale up during the war, with a variety of new services introduced on Diia: the ability to buy military bonds or contribute to a government initiative to raise funds for military and medical equipment, a program of financial assistance to entrepreneurs and employees from the regions where hostilities took place, assistance services for displaced people, application for compensation for damaged property, access to news, eDocuments for identification for those who left home without any documents, e-pension certificate, accessing car registration certificate to transfer the right to drive the vehicle, driver's license renewals, receiving a court decision, changing of residency, and more.

The government has also leveraged digital solutions to streamline defense efforts. A notable example is the eEnemy Telegram chatbot, which was developed using the existing digital infrastructure and exclusively accessible to verified Ukrainian citizens. With nearly 500,000 individual users, this innovative tool enabled citizens to share crucial information such as geolocation data, photos, and videos of the Russian army's equipment. Additionally, users had the opportunity to provide textual descriptions to enhance the reported information further. The data collected through the eEnemy chatbot is promptly transferred to the Ukrainian military, facilitating a more efficient response to the evolving situation. Reporting explosive objects was later integrated into the chatbot, which significantly accelerated the process of locating and neutralizing mines and bombs left behind by the occupying forces. Moreover, the chatbot serves as a valuable tool for citizens to gather, compile, and share evidence of war crimes committed by the invaders in areas like Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel. These occupied territories pose significant challenges when it comes to collecting data, making the chatbot an essential resource in documenting and raising awareness about the atrocities occurring in these regions.

Digital Diplomacy and Cooperation

Technology is a tool for change, but the speed of its application is different in different countries; sometimes young democracies and developing countries will embrace it more quickly than mature countries. In the case of Ukraine, war added an additional sense of urgency, such that a rapid digital transformation was sped up even more by the crisis. But in a world facing down climate disasters, mass inequality, and other injustices, we are only just starting to realize how digital resilience can help governments respond to crises.

The Ukrainian example will be valuable for others to follow. For this reason, USAID is supporting Diia, emphasizing its great impact on the lives of millions and its scalability to any country ready to embrace positive radical change with the help of technology. Already, Estonia, the world's most digital state, is working on the government application mRiik, inspired by success of the Ukrainian Diia. In its initial trial phase, mRiik will allow Estonians to digitally store critical documents such as ID cards, passports, and driving licenses and access some public services. We believe many more countries will follow our example.

Read more stories by Gulsanna Mamediieva.