While we cheer on Ukraine’s talented youth team at the International Cyber Olympiad in AI in Sydney this week, the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) has also been raising serious concerns about the participation of a russian state-approved team at the same event.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the Ukrainian Ambassador H.E. Vasyl Myroshnychenko, and the AFUO formally wrote to organisers arguing that allowing representatives of an aggressor state to participate was inconsistent with international principles of responsibility, solidarity and respect for the rules-based international order.
Neither letter received a response.
It is also unclear why a russian state-approved team is training in cybersecurity and AI on Australian soil when Australia has repeatedly named russia as a malicious state cyber actor.
As AFUO Chair Kateryna Argyrou said today in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age: “This isn’t just a question for Ukraine — it’s a question for every Australian institution that takes cybersecurity seriously.”
Nor is it clear how placing Ukrainian students alongside a russian delegation — in competition, on excursions, and at an awards ceremony — would not impact their wellbeing. These are children who have arrived from a country defending itself against russia’s full-scale invasion, from cities relentlessly targeted by daily russian missile and drone attacks. These are children who deserve a basic duty of care.
Read today’s SMH and The Age article here: Outrage-as-Ukrainian-teens-forced-to-face-Russians-at-Australian-AI-summit.pdf
#AFUO #ICOA2026 #AI #Cybersecurity #UkraineAustralia #russiaIsATerroristState #SydneyMorningHerald #TheAge
