The Ukrainian government in 2020 launched Diia, a digital app that combines identity card, passport, license, vaccination record, registrations, insurance, health reimbursements and social benefits.
That was before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Now, it appears the Ukraine government is expanding Diia, illustrating how digital apps can be employed during wartime.
What is the Diia app?
In Ukranian, the word “Diia” means “action,” but it’s also an acronym in that language, standing for “The State and Me.”
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, first announced the app on Sept. 27, 2019, under the auspices of the “State in a Smartphone” project.
Officially launched Feb. 6, 2020, Diia is intended to combine all public services into one app, which operates as a “digital state.”
Digital passports and other official documents are now considered legally equivalent to their paper versions, making Ukraine the first country to accomplish this.
Diia provides more than 50 government services, with the eventual goal of making all interactions with the state available through the app.
Currently used by 14 million Ukrainians, according to Wired, Diia is considered a “national brand” in Ukraine.
Some of the documents available via the app include citizens’ national identification card, a biometric passport, drivers’ licenses (with Ukraine being the fourth European country to introduce them in digital form), vehicle registration certificates and insurance policies, tax documents, birth certificates and COVID vaccine certificates.
The Diia app is even credited with making Ukraine “a world leader in the number of available online services for parents of newborns” — with nine online services related to the birth of a child available within 20 minutes of the child’s birth.
As reported by The Defender in December 2021, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals — in particular, Goal 16.9 — call for the provision of a digital legal identity for all, including newborns, by 2030.
Other services available via the Diia app include digital signatures, business registration, the “Diia City” virtual residency program for businesses to be virtually located in Ukraine and special services for internally displaced persons.
The Diia brand and project are largely credited to Fedorov, who remains Ukraine’s digital minister as the conflict with Russia continues.
Fedorov had previously established a digital marketing startup, which led to him being hired by Volodymyr Zelensky in 2018 as director of digital for Zelensky’s presidential campaign.
In August 2019, shortly after Zelensky was elected, his government established the Ministry for Digital Transformation — with Fedorov named as minister.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) praised Fedorov for his work, including the Diia app.
While “digital wallets” combining essential government documents such as drivers’ licenses and “vaccine passports” have become more widespread over the past year in several countries — including the U.S. — the Diia app represents one of the most wide-ranging and sophisticated such efforts worldwide.
And in the past year, Diia has seen further deployment: in the “battle” against COVID and in the country’s military operations against Russia.
Amid controversy, the Diia app operated as a ‘vaccine passport’
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation launched digital COVID vaccine certificates in July 2021, available “100% in the Diia application.”
The government developed three types of certificates: two for domestic purposes (for one- and two-dose vaccines), and an international certificate for travel purposes — now officially recognized by the European Union and at least 43 countries.
The issue of vaccine passports in Ukraine generated controversy from the get-go.
As stated by Oleksiy Vyskub, first deputy minister of digital transformation, in May 2021:
“Now we are considering the introduction in Ukraine of two types of COVID-19 certificates — internal and external. External, for the ability to travel; internal, if such cases are chosen politically, for the resumption of concerts and other public events. Now it is politically debated. It is clear, this is a difficult question, depending on the availability of the vaccine.”
Nevertheless, on Sept. 13, 2021, the Ukrainian government announced vaccine passports. Utilizing the certificates available in the Diia app, the government restricted access by the non-vaccinated to a variety of businesses and venues, and to the workplace.
These restrictions resulted in public mobilizations against the “vaccine passports,” including a protest in Kyiv in November 2021.
However, at the time, despite two months of vaccine passport enforcement, only about 17% of Ukraine’s population was “fully vaccinated” — one of the lowest levels in Europe.
In a time of conflict though, these digital COVID vaccination certificates were surely useful for fleeing refugees — as evidenced, for instance, by a document originating from Greece’s consulate in Odessa, which requested that members of Ukraine’s Greek diaspora seeking to flee to Greece have their vaccine credentials at the ready.
Aside from “vaccine passports” though, the Diia app also was used to incentivize COVID vaccination via financial means.
Beginning Dec. 19, 2021, the Ukrainian government launched the ePidtrymka program, paying citizens age 14 and older who could demonstrate proof of “full vaccination” against COVID 1,000 hryvnia (approximately $35 at the time).
Described by some commentators as a form of a “social credit” system, the program was scheduled to last until Dec. 18, 2022. The monies provided, however, cannot be spent freely, but only on certain categories of purchases, such as medicines and books.
The ePidtrymka program has continued to expand. On Feb. 14, Ukrainians over age 60 were able to spend funds from this program on housing and communal services. And beginning March 14, persons with disabilities could spend funds from the program on social needs and utility bills.
Also as of March 14, Ukrainians who returned for a COVID booster would receive an additional 500 hryvnia ($17 USD). Payments are conducted via the Diia app.
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No vax-no cell phone-no passport-no QR code-no nothing the government wants me to get to destroy my freedom. Hey Joe, nothing to stop me but a bullet to the head. Tyrannical facists can take a long walk off a short pier. That is my line in the sand.
Is anyone here surprised by this?
Not Ted Kaczynski. He saw this coming more than 50 years ago.
Sounds like the Ukraine is the testing site for the New World Order.
When such a thing is imposed, you are already at war with your government.