Ukraine has selected Google’s Gemma artificial intelligence model as the foundation for developing its sovereign LLM. This was announced in a press release by VEON Group.
The project will utilize Google Vertex AI’s infrastructure for computational power. Kyivstar and the WINWIN AI Centre of Excellence, operating under the Ministry of Digital Transformation, are involved in the initiative.
The mobile operator acts as a strategic partner and will oversee the creation of the Ukrainian language model. The LLM aims to encompass the full spectrum of Ukrainian dialects, terminology, historical, and cultural contexts while ensuring the secure storage and processing of confidential data within the country.
“Google was chosen after thorough evaluation. This strengthens the technological and economic ties between Ukraine and the United States, which were expanded by Kyivstar’s listing on Nasdaq in August 2025,” the announcement states.
Kyivstar will first optimize Gemma for the Ukrainian language, enhance the tokenizer, and train the model using “carefully selected” Ukrainian datasets. Special tests will guide future refinements and adaptation to specific applications.
“The main task during development is to further train the model on our unique data. When choosing the base solution, we focused on how well it processes texts in Ukrainian and is controlled during additional training,” commented Danilo Tsvoh, Director of Artificial Intelligence at the Ministry of Digital Transformation and CEO of the WINWIN AI Centre of Excellence.
Upon completion, the Ukrainian LLM is expected to become the foundation for a new generation of AI-based services in both the public and private sectors.
Sovereign AI
Countries are actively moving towards creating their own artificial intelligence systems, with Nvidia playing a significant role in this process.
The company signed a $2 billion memorandum of understanding with Kazakhstan. Under the agreement, the chipmaker will supply AI equipment to Freedom Holding and the country’s Ministry of Digital Technologies.
Ukraine has also begun collaborating with Nvidia to develop sovereign artificial intelligence. The country will gain access to advanced technologies and will be able to create a sustainable AI infrastructure for the government and defense sectors.
In September, Ukraine launched the “world’s first” state AI agent on the Diia portal. It not only answers questions but also provides services directly in the chat.
In June, the Ministry of Digital Transformation introduced a sandbox for testing blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies.