UCCI BECAME A PLATFORM FOR DISCUSSING THE COUNTRY’S DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY

The meeting was opened by Volodymyr Koliadenko, Chairman of the Committee on Electronic Communications of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and First Vice President of the Kyiv Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In his opening remarks, he stressed that in the context of hybrid warfare, digital infrastructure is in fact part of the country’s critical infrastructure. Its regulatory framework, resilience, and security directly affect the continuity of communications, the stability of business processes, and the reliability of digital services. Mr. Koliadenko also highlighted the practical orientation of the Committee’s work. The Committee develops a partnership dialogue between business and government and supports initiatives aimed at strengthening cyber resilience, including industry-oriented educational and practical projects.

In his welcome address, Hennadii Chyzhykov, President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, underlined the importance of this topic for the country’s economic resilience and public trust in digital services. He positively noted the active role of the Committee as a platform capable of bringing together government authorities, business representatives, and professional communities. He wished the participants a productive discussion focused on practical solutions that could be useful both for the market and for the state.

The key framework for the discussion was presented by Tetyana Khabibrakhmanova, the head of the public union “Ukrainian Alliance for Digital Sovereignty” (DSUA). She emphasized that digital sovereignty is, first and foremost, specific rules and practices that can be applied in real projects: from security requirements and incident preparedness to manageability, interoperability, and portability between providers without critical dependence on a single supplier. In this context, it was noted that the public union "Ukrainian Digital Sovereignty Alliance" was established on April 22, 2025, as an open association of technology companies, formed to consolidate the market around a practical model of sovereign cloud and datacenter infrastructure under Ukrainian jurisdiction.

Volodymyr Pokatilov, Director of the “Parkovy” Datacenter, focused on the technical and organizational aspects that may accompany the creation of a Ukrainian sovereign digital cloud and the services provided by datacenter service providers.

The state's position regarding the priority of data sovereignty and requirements for the resilience of digital services was outlined by the Head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, Oleksandr Potiy. He emphasized that in modern conditions, security and control over data are matters of national resilience, requiring a systematic approach: from principles to management standards and practices for responding to cyber incidents. The focus of his speech was the thesis on the need to consistently shape sovereign approaches to data storage and processing, as well as to strengthen the infrastructure readiness for attacks and failures.

Representatives of the SBU Department of Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in Information Security emphasized the strategic importance of developing a sovereign digital infrastructure as a core element of safeguarding national interests in cyberspace. They noted that harmonized security and management practices significantly enhance the predictability and effectiveness of incident response for digital services that rely heavily on cloud and data center foundations.

Serhiy Demediuk, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Cyber Warfare Research, provided an expert perspective on the subject. He stated that digital sovereignty and cyber resilience form the bedrock of trust in a digital state and economy, arguing that Ukraine’s experience in countering wartime cyberattacks should be codified into practical frameworks applicable to both the public and private sectors. He further noted that resilience must be measurable and manageable, achieved through incident readiness, recovery procedures, and transparent accountability rules.

The international dimension was underscored by Andriy Davydiuk, Ukraine's representative at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn. He highlighted the keen interest of international partners in Ukraine's firsthand practical experience. Davydiuk added that for many nations, digital sovereignty has long been integrated into cyber resilience policies, and that developing sovereign approaches requires a synergy of infrastructural solutions, risk management protocols, and organizational coordination between the state and the market.

The role of science and the necessity of methodological rigor in issues of sovereign cloud infrastructure were outlined by Oleksandr Korchenko, First Vice-Rector of the State University of Information and Communication Technologies, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He emphasized that for the market and the state it is important to have not only a general vision, but also scientifically substantiated criteria and indicators that allow comparing approaches and making decisions based on a scientific approach - in particular in the field of threat models, risk-oriented management, and assessment of the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures.

Oleh Haiduk, Deputy Head of the Committee of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on electronic communications, expert of the Institute for the Study of Cyber Warfare, and advisor to the PARKOVYI Data Center on artificial intelligence and innovation, proposed to adopt a draft protocol decision on the creation, under the Committee, of a permanently operating practical platform for interaction with market participants and the expert community. This concerns regular industry dialogue with a focus on applied matters: manageability and readiness for incidents, security requirements, technological compatibility and portability between providers, as well as the formation of an agreed market position regarding the development of sovereign cloud and data center infrastructure under Ukrainian jurisdiction.

Based on the results of the meeting, the participants confirmed the importance of continuing work on the platform of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to consolidate the market around a practical model of digital sovereignty and cyber resilience, as well as to elaborate further steps that may be useful for both business and the state.