Ukraine has been granted access to the European Union's cybersecurity reserve, allowing Kyiv to call on EU-approved experts during major cyberattacks.

The European Commission announced Monday that member states had approved Ukraine's participation in the EU Cybersecurity Reserve, a pool of private cybersecurity companies that can be rapidly deployed to help governments and critical infrastructure operators respond to large-scale cyber incidents.

The reserve, managed by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), was established to provide incident response, technical expertise, and recovery support to participating countries experiencing a cyberattack that exceeds their own capabilities.

Last year, Moldova became the first non-EU country granted access to the cybersecurity reserve, due to the increasing number of Moscow-linked cyberthreats and influence operations.

For Ukraine, which continues to face relentless cyberattacks amid the ongoing war with Russia, the EU's decision carries political significance as well as practical benefits.

"Ukraine is becoming part of the EU's collective cyber defense mechanism even before obtaining formal EU membership," Natalia Tkachuk, head of cyber and information security at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told Recorded Future News. 

Last week, the EU member states agreed to launch formal accession negotiations with Kyiv, another milestone on Ukraine’s long path toward joining the bloc.

According to Tkachuk, Ukraine will be able to officially request emergency European assistance if a cyberattack exceeds the capacity of its own incident response teams, allowing specialized experts from across the EU to provide digital forensics, incident response and system recovery support.

Beyond responding to active attacks, the Cyber Reserve can also assist with post-incident recovery, modernizing systems to strengthen defenses, sharing cyberthreat intelligence and improving national cyber incident response capabilities, she added.

The relationship with the reserve is expected to be reciprocal.

"Ukraine is no longer merely a recipient of cybersecurity assistance," Tkachuk said, adding that Ukrainian agencies already share intelligence on Russian hacking techniques with European partners and participate in joint cybercrime investigations and attribution efforts alongside Europol and other European authorities. 

Years of responding to Russian cyberattacks have strengthened Ukraine's cyber capabilities, giving its government and private sector extensive experience in detecting, mitigating and recovering from large-scale cyber incidents.

Ukraine also hopes that its own cybersecurity companies will eventually be able to join the Cyber Reserve as trusted service providers under the EU's Cyber Solidarity Act, Tkachuk said.

For Brussels, the move is another sign of deepening security cooperation with Kyiv as the country moves closer to eventual EU membership.

"By welcoming Ukraine into the EU Cybersecurity Reserve, we strengthen our collective defenses and reaffirm the principle of solidarity that lies at the heart of Europe's digital future," European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen said.

The EU has become one of Ukraine's closest cybersecurity partners since Russia's invasion in 2022, including through bilateral security agreements and international initiatives such as the Tallinn Mechanism.