Kyivstar and the Ministry of Digital Transformation Select Google Gemma for National Language Model
Date: 2025-12-02 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
Mobile operator Kyivstar and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced they are creating a national large-scale language model based on Google Gemma. The project is coordinated by the WINWIN AI Competence Center, and Kyivstar will manage the processes. The development will be based exclusively on data of Ukrainian origin, allowing it to take into account language specifics, local contexts, and professional terminology.
For computations, the team will use Google Vertex AI, which provides the technical infrastructure. The partners emphasize that Gemma was chosen after comparing it with other language models. The key considerations were the quality of its processing of Ukrainian texts and the possibility of safe further training with minimal ethical and linguistic risks. Danylo Tsvok, Head of AI at the Ministry of Digital Transformation and CEO of WINWIN AI, noted that this architecture reduces the likelihood of errors and improves control over the generation results.
The development is designed for a wide range of applications. Upon completion of training, the model is planned to be used to process regulatory and legal documents, as well as to build specialized solutions in medicine, educational projects, the financial sector, and related fields. This is expected to improve the efficiency of government systems and create new tools for companies working with large data sets.
Kaan Terzioglu, CEO of VEON Group, Kyivstar's parent company, stated that the project will be a step toward strengthening the country's intellectual potential and will help businesses and government agencies more actively implement AI technologies. The company emphasized that the initiative is part of a broader strategy aimed at eliminating the language gap in the use of AI solutions in VEON's markets. Similar models have already been launched in Kazakhstan and Pakistan, and similar technology is now being implemented in Ukraine.
Work on the federal LLM began in the summer of 2025. In the fall, the Ministry of Digital Transformation also announced joint initiatives with NVIDIA, one of the first stages of which will be the creation of the Diia AI LLM. Thus, the Google Gemma-based project is becoming a key element in the formation of a national AI ecosystem focused on supporting the Ukrainian language and developing technological independence.
