Ukraine’s millennial minister leads digital fight against Russia

Ukraine’s youngest Cabinet member knows there is more than one way to beat Russia in the war — and the tech-savvy Minister of Digital Transformation is fighting back on several virtual fronts.

From overseeing a project securing drones to the rollout of public service apps and combating Russia in the cyber sphere, Mykhailo Fedorov is defending Ukraine in ways its military cannot. And that includes in the propaganda war, The Hill reports.

“Our information resources are under attack constantly,” Fedorov told The Hill during an exclusive interview this week. But “we are teaching Ukrainians the basic digital literacy, [and] our media are working efficiently.”

“It’s an unprecedented thing, and we are keeping Ukrainians united and unified in the information field,” he continues. ”Everything is working.”

And the millennial digital minister is not just on the defensive. Last year, he organized a vast information technology (IT) army made of about 200,000 volunteers who are engaged in cyberwarfare with Russia.

The hackers, who communicate on Telegram, target Russian infrastructure and websites to hit back against Moscow, which has waged a steady campaign of online warfare and has knocked out critical services in Ukraine.

Fedorov says this volunteer IT army has been massively successful in the effort to “distract the attention of Russian hackers from our information systems,” and has picked up lots of global attention.

“This project has a very big and bright future,” he says.

Fedorov, 32, hails from Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region, where he studied at Zaporizhzhia National University in the faculty of sociology and management.

In 2015, he founded a digital marketing startup called SMMSTUDIO, which he ran for about four years until he was elected a member of parliament. 

He was tapped to lead the Ministry of Digital Transformation when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formed the department in 2019 with the goal of fully digitizing Ukraine’s public services.

But when Russia invaded in February 2022, Fedorov had to react swiftly to the new reality of war.

From the ground up, he built a digital campaign pressuring companies like Microsoft and Apple to cut off services to Russia. 

Fedorov also helped shape Ukraine’s online campaign to shame Russia and call out its alleged abuses on Twitter and other social media platforms. 

And he spearheaded the creation of the IT army within weeks of the invasion. Similarly, he quickly helped seal a deal with billionaire Elon Musk for the deployment of thousands of Starlink satellites, which have become the communication backbone of Ukraine’s military.

Fedorov has plenty of support. He pointed to startup tech companies that are innovating with military tech and beating Russia with new hardware and software at every move.

In a February piece with the Atlantic Council, Fedorov wrote that military tech “offers the best solutions to the threats created by Russia’s invasion” and is the most crucial component of modern warfare.

Fedorov says Ukraine will prevail because of its savvy approach to innovation.

“Ukrainians are both courageous at the battlefield and in the development of economy,” he told The Hill, and “we have the attention from all over the world.”

As Ukraine has remained largely triumphant in the war, Fedorov is moving up the ladder in Kyiv. Last month he was appointed as deputy prime minister of Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development.

Possibly more important than fighting Russia, Fedorov also manages the crucial link between the federal government and the Ukrainian people across several digital platforms.

The roots of this effort can be found in a web portal and phone app called Diia, which around 19 million Ukrainian citizens use to quickly and easily access public services. Ukrainians are using it to get information about Russian movements, make payments or secure loans for damaged property, with more services rolling out all the time.

This fits neatly within Fedorov’s mission to make life safer and easier for citizens through accessible digital tools — whether it’s a pandemic or a war.

Possibly more important than fighting Russia, Fedorov also manages the crucial link between the federal government and the Ukrainian people across several digital platforms.

The roots of this effort can be found in a web portal and phone app called Diia, which around 19 million Ukrainian citizens use to quickly and easily access public services. Ukrainians are using it to get information about Russian movements, make payments or secure loans for damaged property, with more services rolling out all the time.

This fits neatly within Fedorov’s mission to make life safer and easier for citizens through accessible digital tools — whether it’s a pandemic or a war.