Ukraine’s Digital Government Push Continues Through War, Targets “Agentic State” With AI

Ukraine's Digital Government Push Continues Through War, Targets "Agentic State" With AI

Ukraine's government is pressing ahead with an ambitious digital transformation initiative despite nearly four years of active conflict with Russia, aiming to evolve President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's vision of a "state in a smartphone" into what officials now call an "agentic state" powered by artificial intelligence.

The effort centers on Diia, an integrated digital platform and super app that provides citizens with streamlined access to public services, business resources, and digital literacy education. The platform represents one of the more unusual experiments in government technology deployment, combining wartime necessity with long-term digital infrastructure planning.

For finance leaders watching government technology adoption, Ukraine's approach offers a case study in accelerated digital transformation under extreme conditions. The country is attempting to modernize citizen services while managing the operational challenges of an ongoing invasion that began in February 2022 and continues to disrupt critical infrastructure.

The government's stated goal has evolved beyond simply digitizing existing services. Officials now describe their ambition as building an "agentic state" as artificial intelligence capabilities advance, suggesting plans to incorporate AI-driven automation into government functions through the Diia platform.

The timing is notable. While most governments struggle with digital transformation during peacetime, Ukraine is attempting to reskill its workforce and deploy new technology systems while managing regular attacks on civilian infrastructure. Photographs from December 2025 showed Ukrainian residents working from bomb shelters during power blackouts caused by Russian missile strikes, highlighting the challenging environment in which this digital initiative is unfolding.

The Diia platform consolidates what would typically be scattered across multiple government agencies and physical offices into a single mobile application. This includes identity verification, business registration, and access to various public services that would traditionally require in-person visits to government offices.

For CFOs and finance leaders, the Ukrainian model raises questions about the viability of rapid government digitization and the potential for AI integration in public sector operations. The country is essentially running a live experiment in whether crisis can accelerate institutional change that typically takes decades.

The shift from "state in a smartphone" to "agentic state" reflects broader trends in enterprise technology, where organizations are moving beyond simple digitization toward AI-powered automation. Ukraine appears to be attempting this transition at the national level while simultaneously managing wartime operations.

The practical implications remain to be seen. Digital transformation and workforce reskilling present significant challenges even in stable environments with adequate resources and infrastructure. Ukraine's ability to maintain progress on these initiatives while managing an active conflict will test whether crisis-driven urgency can overcome the typical obstacles to government technology adoption.

The initiative also raises questions about digital infrastructure resilience and the risks of consolidating critical government services into centralized platforms during wartime, when those systems themselves may become targets.