Estonia, allies establish mechanism to provide cyber assistance to Ukraine

TALLINN – The Tallinn Mechanism, created by Estonia and its allies to leverage the cyber support of donor nations to Ukraine in the civilian domain, was launched on Wednesday.

"Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is not waged solely on the conventional battlefield," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a press release. "Russia's targets include Ukraine’s cyber capabilities, both military and civilian, and therefore, it is crucial to support Ukraine’s cyber defence and its capacity to restore and develop relevant infrastructure."

"Unfortunately, it is likely that Russia's cyberattacks will continue for the foreseeable future," Tsahkna said, adding that this is why, with the Tallinn Mechanism, we are offering a chance to reinforce Ukraine's systematic preparedness and resilience to cyberattacks in the long term.

The Tallinn Mechanism was established at the first meeting of donor states this spring. With the mechanism, Ukraine's needs will be responded to in a systemized manner and matched to the possibilities of donors in such a way that support from various countries forms a coherent whole and Ukraine is able to defend itself in the cyber sphere. 

The donors of the Tallinn Mechanism are Estonia, Netherlands, Canada, Poland, France, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, the United States and the United Kingdom. NATO and the European Union are observer members in the Tallinn Mechanism. The mechanism has an Estonian front office in Kyiv, a Polish back office in Warsaw and a coordination group that unites representatives of Ukraine and all donors. The mechanism is open to new members.

Top tech companies and NGOs of donor countries are involved in the Mechanism. It is also possible to use the Mechanism for informing Estonian companies about both urgent and long-term needs. Estonia is allocating €500 000 to the Tallinn Mechanism through its 2024 development cooperation budget. 

The Tallinn Mechanism works in parallel with the IT Coalition that addresses Ukraine’s cyber issues in the military domain.