“Monitoring is not enough,” a senior Ukrainian cybersecurity official warned, arguing that Europe needs to move from watching Russian hybrid threats to actively disrupting them—before critical infrastructure attacks start causing real-world harm. Nataliya Tkachuk, head of the Information and Cybersecurity Directorate at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told TVP World Russia is coordinating “information operations plus cyber operations, plus using conventional weapons,” and that even a future ceasefire would not end the pressure but only shift more resources into what she called Moscow’s “hybrid toolbox.” Poland as a warning sign Tkachuk pointed to Poland’s recent experience, arguing that attacks on energy systems are not theoretical. In late December, Polish officials said a cyberattack targeting energy facilities could have left up to 500,000 people without heating and described the incident as one of the most serious in years. The attack ultimately failed, but researchers and officials have linked it to Russian state-backed actors. She compared the threat to the malware-driven power disruptions Ukraine faced a decade ago—attacks widely associated with Russia-linked hackers and the BlackEnergy/KillDisk toolset—warning that Europe could be “next” if it treats cyber defense as a purely technical problem. Tkachuk argued that European governments should be “proactive,” not only tracking disinformation networks and bot activity but also taking steps that prevent attacks from scaling. Asked whether Europe should build something like a “cyber army,” she said public pressure matters: if citizens understand what is at stake, such as power cuts in winter, politicians will be forced to act. A workforce gap and a push for women Tkachuk also described a wartime talent squeeze, saying “the key asset… is people,” as many IT specialists serve in the armed forces. She said Ukraine is promoting women’s participation in cybersecurity—not as a symbolic measure, but as a capacity issue—while also trying to keep young specialists in the country by making the field more visible and better understood. Speaking from the Kyiv International Cyber Resilience Forum, she said events that bring together government, business and academia can help turn lessons from Ukraine’s wartime experience into practical cooperation—if European partners engage beyond declarations.
