KYIV, July 7 — Against the backdrop of a war that has redefined the relationship between technology and national defence, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, stands as the architect of a digital state built under fire. Born in 1991 in Vasylkiv, Fedorov is the youngest minister in the Ukrainian government. Since taking office in 2019, his portfolio has expanded far beyond the usual remit of a digital ministry.
What is at stake, in the corridors of power in Kyiv, is nothing less than the modernisation of a nation at war, and Fedorov has become the face of that transformation.
The Army of Drones: Crowdfunding a War Effort
In July 2022, as the full-scale invasion entered its fifth month, Fedorov launched the ‘Army of Drones’ project. This was no ordinary state procurement programme. It was a crowdfunding initiative that, by 2024, had raised over $100 million for drone procurement.
The scale of the operation is difficult to overstate: the funds have supplied thousands of drones to Ukrainian forces, including Mavic 3 quadcopters and FPV kamikaze drones. These are not abstract tools.
On the front lines, Mavic 3 quadcopters provide real-time reconnaissance, while FPV kamikaze drones have become a signature weapon of this conflict, striking armoured vehicles and infantry positions with a precision that was once the preserve of expensive missile systems. The Army of Drones project effectively turned the Ukrainian public into shareholders in their own defence industry.
Diia: The Digital State in Your Pocket
Fedorov’s vision, however, predates the war. He introduced the ‘Diia’ digital government app, a platform that has become the backbone of Ukrainian civic life. With over 19 million users, Diia allows citizens to access their digital passports, register businesses, pay taxes, and even vote in certain pilot programmes.
In a country where physical infrastructure has been targeted by Russian missiles, a digital identity stored in the cloud is not a convenience — it is a form of resilience. The wider picture is clear: while the war has destroyed buildings and roads, it has not destroyed the state’s ability to function.
Diia is the proof of concept. It is, in many ways, the most visible export of Fedorov’s philosophy — that a government can be lean, agile, and accessible, even when its capital is under threat.
An Industrial Revolution in Wartime
Perhaps the most striking metric of Fedorov’s tenure is the growth of Ukraine’s domestic drone industry. In 2024, he stated that the sector had grown from a handful of manufacturers in 2022 to over 200 companies. These firms are now producing drones for reconnaissance, attack, and logistics — a full-spectrum capability that did not exist before the war.
This is not a story of foreign aid alone. It is a story of domestic innovation, of engineers and entrepreneurs pivoting from civilian tech to military hardware.
The companies range from small workshops to medium-sized enterprises, all feeding a supply chain that operates under constant aerial threat. The fact that Ukraine now produces its own FPV kamikaze drones, rather than relying entirely on imports, represents a strategic shift that will outlast any single battle. What to watch next is whether this model can be scaled further.
Fedorov has already demonstrated that crowdfunding can work at scale for defence procurement. The question now is whether the same approach can be applied to other areas — electronic warfare, counter-drone systems, or even the rebuilding of civilian infrastructure.
For a minister who turned a smartphone app into a national ID system and a crowdfunding campaign into an army, the answer is likely to be a matter of time.
