At the IT Coalition steering group meeting held this week in Tallinn, Spain announced their intention to join the coalition. The first deliveries of equipment from the IT Coalition have already arrived in Ukraine, and the coalition has raised 58 million euros in financial and material aid to assist Ukraine with information and communication technology to advance its technological superiority on the battlefield.
"The work of the IT Coalition has progressed rapidly, and step by step, we are moving towards meeting Ukraine's capability needs this year. At the beginning of May, the first laptops, monitors, and other communication devices arrived in Ukraine, which were critically needed by and therefore quickly delivered to Ukrainian Armed Forces. It was a pleasure to welcome Spain as a new upcoming member whose contributions are very welcome," said Tuuli Duneton, Undersecretary for Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence, the representative of Estonia to the Coalition’s Steering Group. "We also informed coalition members of Estonia's additional contribution of 2 million euros. This will be mostly used for the development of Oberig system that enables the registration of eligible people to the Ukrianian military service. Together with our partners, we have already managed to cover the most urgent needs, but there is still plenty room to move forward on this year’s priority list,“ Duneton added.
"We are grateful to our partners for their continued support, new contributions, and quick response to our military's critical needs. The initiative of the IT Coalition is two-way: we share our own developments and experience with our partners. Our cooperation brings the use of information technologies in combat operations to a new level," said Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Kateryna Chernohorenko.
Prior to the coalition meeting, a technical session was held where developers from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence gave live demonstration to subject matter experts on the Ukrainian battlefield management system DELTA, which already uses the provided IT assistance on the battlefield. "The Ukrainian team gave us a very informative overview of the system’s function and on the technological solutions operating on the Ukrainian front. This, in turn, is valuable input for our defence forces on the tools for enhanced situational awareness and operational planning," added Deputy Secretary General Duneton.
The IT Coalition was established at the UDCG meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein in September 2023 to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence in the area of information and communication technology, in order to help enhance Ukraine's combat capabilities. The IT Coalition currently includes 12 countries (in addition to the leading countries Estonia and Luxembourg, also Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom).
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Photos: IT-koalitsiooni juhtgrupi kohtumine Tallinnas | Flickr