Saving Data, Securing EU Accession: Diia’s Dual-Cloud Dilemma in 2025

Launched in 2020, Diia, Ukraine’s “state-in-a-smartphone,” was serving about 22 million users and more than 140 services by 2025, winning praise for its “service-driven digital sovereignty.” Russia’s invasion spurred suspending data localization so that ministries could evacuate registries abroad. Within five months, rugged Amazon Web Services (AWS) Snowballs moved more than 10 petabytes to regions within the European Union, with Microsoft Azure mirroring the datasets.

By mid-2025, that lifesaving dual-cloud stack collided with the EU Data Act, which requires a maximum 30-day transitional period for switching, after a notice period of up to two months, and gradually withdraws switching fees. It also imposes contractual transparency and safeguards against unlawful third-country governmental access to non-personal data stored in the European Union.

Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov must either keep the proven AWS-Azure mesh, risking non-compliance and accession delays, or divert scarce wartime resources to build an EU sovereign zone that meets portability, cybersecurity and data sovereignty rules. The dilemma pits resilience forged in war against regulation demanded in peace.