On February 24, 2022, as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, found himself driving through a firefight in central Kyiv. With armoured vehicles ablaze and gunfire echoing through the streets, he was ordered to head west and continue working from a safer location. Despite the chaos of war, Bornyakov’s mission remained unchanged: advancing Ukraine’s digital government initiative.
Since 2019, Bornyakov has played a key role in developing Diia, a mobile app aimed at transforming how Ukrainian citizens access government services. Meaning “action” in Ukrainian, Diia began by offering digital driver’s licences and gained widespread traction during the pandemic, when it incorporated Covid-19 certificates. The health crisis inadvertently accelerated the app’s adoption, bringing millions more users on board.
Today, Diia boasts over 40 integrated government services, from tax payments and vehicle registration to marriage applications. The app also includes lighter features such as voting for national Eurovision entries. In total, it hosts 30 types of official documents, ranging from gun licences to car insurance. For broader access, the Diia web portal offers an additional 130 services for individuals and businesses.
With 22.7 million users, Ukraine’s digital leap is positioning it as a global leader in e-governance. Bornyakov argues that Ukraine now outpaces Estonia—long considered the benchmark in digital governance—and possibly even rivals Saudi Arabia in scale and efficiency.
So how has Ukraine managed such progress amid war and a pandemic? A key factor is the country’s robust tech workforce. Over the past two decades, Ukraine has become a hub for IT outsourcing, with an estimated 300,000 software developers. Many of these professionals, trained through complex international projects, contributed to building Diia at a fraction of the cost it would take in Western countries. Bornyakov estimates the app cost between $5 million and $10 million—an amount that would multiply many times over in the UK.
According to David Eaves, Associate Professor of Digital Government at University College London, Ukraine’s success stems from early groundwork. By first establishing a comprehensive data exchange system, similar to Estonia’s, Ukraine enabled seamless data sharing across government agencies. This eliminated the need for repeated data entry by citizens and allowed the government to quickly roll out new services.
This flexible infrastructure proved critical during wartime. Diia has since introduced around 15 war-related services, including compensation applications for damaged property and a feature allowing citizens to report the location of Russian forces.
Prof. Eaves notes that wartime urgency has helped cut through bureaucratic red tape, enabling swift digital innovation. “When you are on a wartime footing, there’s a sense of urgency. Delivering the service becomes more important than rules that sometimes trip up bureaucracies,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ukraine plans to integrate artificial intelligence into Diia to streamline user interactions. Bornyakov envisions AI guiding citizens through application processes, further redefining the relationship between people and government. However, Prof. Eaves cautions that the effectiveness of AI depends heavily on data quality and system design: “AI is like a Ferrari. It can do amazing things, but you better have good roads.”
Despite the ongoing conflict, Ukraine’s commitment to digital governance remains unwavering. Diia is not only surviving the war—it’s reshaping how government functions in the digital age.
