On 29 September, Ukraine and the European Union held the second round of the Cybersecurity Dialogue. In the context of the Russian Federation’s unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, participants emphasized the importance to further strengthening their cyber resilience efforts and cooperation. The EU expressed its solidarity with and support to Ukraine, which is facing cyber-attacks that seek to undermine its key infrastructure. The Russian Federation must stop this senseless and illegal war and bring an end to the human suffering immediately.

The EU and Ukraine exchanged views on the current threat landscape, including on numerous cyberattacks against Ukraine’s critical information infrastructure that have started already before the beginning of the invasion in February and are persisting. 
The participants noted that thanks to close cooperation with the EU and other international partners in the area of cybersecurity and cyber defence, Ukraine has shown formidable capacities for fending off cyberattacks and protecting its critical infrastructure.

The EU and Ukraine provided updates on their respective cyber-related institutional settings, responsibilities as well as policies and legislative developments, including the update of the Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive) and the efforts by Ukraine to develop its cybersecurity-related policies and legislation, in alignment with the EU legal and institutional framework.

Ukraine noted that the Russian Federation’s unjustified war against Ukraine proves the importance of international cooperation in cybersecurity. They pointed that cyberspace has no borders, and to become resilient to cyber threats, we join efforts in building an effective system for collective protection against hacker attacks.

Ukraine further stressed that the agenda of the second EU–Ukraine Cybersecurity Dialogue is based on the necessity of enhancing the cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine, as well as the implementation of joint cybersecurity projects in the midst of the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine, with consideration of the EU candidate status granted to Ukraine.

During the Dialogue, participants highlighted that the implementation of Ukraine’s 2021–2025 Cybersecurity Strategy is an important step towards strengthening cybersecurity also in the context of Ukraine’s path towards EU accession.

The EU will continue to provide coordinated political, financial and material support to Ukraine to strengthen its cyber resilience. The participants agreed on further deepening their engagement in cybersecurity. Ukrainian and EU representatives highlighted the importance of advancing the dialogue on cyber issues and achieve further concrete operational results. The EU has provided €29 million to increase Ukraine’s cyber and digital resilience. Out of this, €10 million has been used for cyber security equipment, software and other related support, whilst a further €19 million is supporting resilient digital transformation. Additional support in the field of cyber defence is being provided through the European Peace Facility.

Finally, the participants thanked the Republic of Poland for hosting the Dialogue. 

The dialogue was co-chaired on the Ukrainian side by Oleksandr Potii, Deputy Head of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) and Wiktor Staniecki, Deputy Head of Security and Defence Policy Division at the European External Action Service as well as  Christiane Kirketerp de Viron - Head of Unit, Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy Policy, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology; with representatives from the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), CERT-EU, the European Commission Support Group for Ukraine (SGUA), the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and CERT-UA also present. A number of EU Member States took part as observers.