Ukraine joins its first NATO cyber defense center meeting

Ukrainian officials met for the first time on Monday with the steering committee of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country’s successful bid to join the cyber center. 

Ukraine first applied to join the organization in August 2021. Its application was unanimously approved by all members of the steering committee in March. 

According to a blog post released by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, members of the committee are finalizing a technical agreement on the accession that will formalize Ukraine’s participation in the organization.

“Ukraine’s accession to the CCDCOE is a significant achievement for our country in terms of strengthening international cooperation in the field of cybersecurity and cyber defense, as well as an important step towards Ukraine’s NATO membership,” said Ukraine’s national security agency in the blog post.

The meeting comes after Finland and Sweden applied to join the 30-nation military organization following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The United States supports the move and has said it won’t tolerate any efforts to detail their ascension process.

However, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson recently expressed concerns that her country’s decision to join NATO could possibly incite Russia to launch cyberattacks against Sweden in retaliation. 

Ukraine has also expressed a strong desire to join the alliance, however it has conceded that is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Although Ukraine has become a testing ground for Russia’s cyber operations, it has over the years received significant financial and technical assistance from the U.S. and the European Union to strengthen its cyber defenses. 

The U.S. has invested some $40 million since 2017 in helping Ukraine bolster its information technology sector.