On 19–20 February, the Third Kyiv International Cyber Resilience Forum took place in Kyiv, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine serving as one of the co-organisers.
Over the past three years, this platform has evolved into a key venue bringing together representatives of governments, international organisations, leading technology companies, experts, and civil society to engage in open dialogue on practical approaches to strengthening the digital security of our nations.
While delivering remarks on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, Deputy Foreign Minister, Chief Digital Transformation Officer Anton Demokhin expressed his appreciation to international partners for the concrete instruments supporting Ukraine’s cyber resilience, in particular the Tallinn Mechanism, the IT Coalition, and the Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine initiative.
“Every joint project, every training, every technical solution, and every contribution to capacity-building strengthens Ukraine’s security, and therefore the security of Europe and the wider democratic world,” Anton Demokhin emphasised.
The Deputy Minister also underscored that Ukraine’s full integration into the European Union remains a key foreign policy priority. In the cyber domain, this entails the alignment of policies and standards, participation in joint response mechanisms, and the shaping of a pan-European digital space grounded in the principles of digital sovereignty.
In this context the importance of the regular participation in this Forum of representatives of the European External Action Service and the European Commission was underlined – such engagement helps to act in an even more coordinated manner to strengthen the EU’s security through Ukraine’s full integration.
As part of the Forum, a thematic panel entitled “Cyber Diplomacy: From Norms of Responsible State Behaviour to Cyber Incident Attribution and (Cyber) Deterrence” was held and moderated by Anton Demokhin.
The discussion featured Ernst Noorman, Cyber Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands; Heli Popp, Cyber Diplomacy Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia; Piotr Łukasiewicz, Chargé d’Affaires of Poland to Ukraine; and Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The panel focused on the tools of cyber diplomacy necessary to ensure security in cyberspace — ranging from the implementation of norms of responsible state behaviour to the attribution of cyber incidents and the development of effective deterrence mechanisms. Participants noted that while the international normative framework has been established within the United Nations, the OSCE, and the European Union, its practical implementation remains insufficient due to the lack of effective enforcement instruments and procedures.
Anton Demokhin emphasised that the effectiveness of cyber diplomacy depends on moving towards coordinated signalling, joint responses, and increasing the cost of malicious cyber activity for perpetrators. He also highlighted the importance of collective attribution, clear evidentiary standards, and secure information exchange, as well as enhanced shared situational awareness among partners.
The Deputy Minister further stressed that attribution must be supported by predictable consequences, and that sanctions should continue to evolve as a key element of effective deterrence. In this context, participants discussed the importance of linking sanctions with criminal justice instruments and the potential for assessing the impact of restrictive measures on the behaviour of malicious actors.
Anton Demokhin also underlined the need to scale up international support for Ukraine while advancing its integration into the EU’s digital ecosystem as a contributor to collective security.
On the sidelines of the Forum, Anton Demokhin met with Ernst Noorman, Cyber Ambassador of the Netherlands, to review progress in advancing bilateral cybersecurity cooperation and to follow up on the outcomes of last year’s cyber dialogue.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine also met with Tõnis Saar, Director of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). During the meeting, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the NATO CCDCOE.