EU and Ukraine deepen cooperation on cyber security at 4th Cyber Dialogue

The European Union and Ukraine held their 4th Cyber Dialogue in Kyiv, Ukraine on 16 October, reaffirming their strong commitment to cooperation on cyber security and cyber diplomacy.

Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine as well as its candidate status to the EU highlight the importance of deep exchanges around cyber security and cyber defence and the need for reinforced cooperation in the face of growing cyber threats.

The EU and Ukraine set the stage by exchanging views on the current cyber threat landscape, and discussed ways to closer align their cybersecurity policies, including by discussing the Digital Chapter of the Ukraine Plan, the protection of critical infrastructure and implementation of the EU's Network and Information Security (NIS2) Directive, the alignment with the EU policies, including the full implementation of the 5G Cybersecurity toolbox and the EU's policy on Cyber Defence.

The dialogue also focused on operational issues, in particular on the respective best practices and lessons learnt on deterrence and response to cyber incidents and cyber-attacks. On this topic, the EU and Ukraine discussed respective response mechanisms, including their sanctions regimes, as well as their cooperation on cybercrime investigations, the status of Ukraine's access to the EU Cybersecurity Reserve, and cooperation on cyber capacity building, notably via the Tallinn Mechanism.

Furthermore, the EU and Ukraine exchanged on multilateral discussions, notably at the UN and OSCE, and the importance of public-private partnerships in enhancing cyber security.

The EU and Ukraine agreed to continue to deepen their strong cooperation on cyber security and to advance the identified actions for cooperation and continued dialogue on cyber issues, with a view to achieving further concrete operational results. The EU expressed its continued and unwavering support for Ukraine to build its cyber resilience and response capacity to address the continued aggression from Russia in cyberspace. Ukraine reiterated its readiness to contribute the evidence and expertise to strengthen the EU's collective response to state-sponsored cyber aggression.

This fourth dialogue was co-chaired by Maciej Stadejek, Director for Security and Defence Policy at the European External Action Service (EEAS), Christiane Kirketerp de Viron, Director for Cybersecurity and Trust at the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) of the European Commission, and by Anton Demonkhin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Digital Transformation Officer.

The dialogue included the participation of various services of the European Commission, its Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), Europol, the European Security and Defence College and the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM). From the Ukrainian's side, the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Energy and Digital Transformation, the National Security and Defence Council, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, the Cybersecurity Situation Centre of the Security Service and the General Staff of the Armed Forces were also present. EU Member States participated as observers.