DIGITAL RESILIENCE IN WARTIME: UKRAINE’S PATH TO DECENTRALISED GOVTECH ARCHITECTURE
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Abstract
This article examines the provision of digital resilience in public governance through the lens of synthesising Ukraine's experience of “forced innovation” with European regulatory standards in the context of technological evolution. Based on an analysis of the Municipal Dispatch Service ‘1562’in Kharkiv during 2023- 2025, which demonstrated remarkable operational resilience indicators under full-scale war conditions (97.3% availability whilst processing over 1.2 million requests), the author identifies a unique phenomenon whereby extreme conditions stimulate technological innovations that outpace traditional regulatory mechanisms. The research reveals the evolution of EU-Ukraine cooperation in digital transformation through the EU4DigitalUA, DT4UA programmes and GovTech dialogue, demonstrating a transformation from a ‘donor-recipient’ model to a strategic partnership for exchanging innovative practices. A comparative analysis of the Ukrainian adaptive response model and the European regulatory DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) model reveals their complementarity across five key dimensions: ICT risk management, ease of implementation, scalability, viability under threats, and resource efficiency. The author proposes a theoretical ‘Cascading Resilience’ model – an adaptive system with three levels of operational readiness for each functional block, combining the rapid reactivity of the Ukrainian model with DORA's structured approach through decentralised Web 3.0 technologies. The model envisages not automatic switching between modes, but conscious decisions supported by algorithmic assistance, ensuring functionality even with 60% infrastructure loss. The research raises critical ethical and methodological questions regarding the use of ‘survival data’ from combat zones for training AI systems in other cities, as well as the limitations of simulating real crises. The conclusions emphasise the necessity of synthesising Ukrainian anti-fragility with European systematicity to create a new paradigm of digital resilience adequate to the challenges of an era of global turbulence.
How to Cite
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digital resilience, GovTech, public governance, DORA, Web 3.0, decentralised architecture, forced innovation, Kharkiv, dispatch service 1562, cascading resilience model
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