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Ukraine’s National Coordination Centre for Cybersecurity (NCCC) decided on 19 September 2024 to prohibit installing and using Telegram on designated official devices. The measure covered government officials, military personnel, security and defence sector employees, and enterprises operating critical infrastructure, with an exception for people whose official duties required the messenger. It was not a nationwide ban: the Associated Press reported that personal-device use remained permitted when the decision was announced.

What Ukraine’s Telegram decision covered

The NCCC made the decision at a meeting on 19 September 2024; Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) published its account on 20 September. The restriction concerned installing and using Telegram on official devices used by these groups:

  • Government officials
  • Military personnel
  • Employees in the security and defence sector
  • Employees of enterprises operating critical infrastructure

The NSDC account specified an exception for people whose official duties required Telegram. It did not describe a general prohibition on the app for everyone in Ukraine. The Associated Press reported that Ukrainians could continue using Telegram on personal devices at the time of the announcement.

The NSDC’s 20 September 2024 statement records the decision and the exception; the Associated Press report describes the personal-device boundary.

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Why Ukrainian officials cited security risks

According to the NSDC account, Defence Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov presented evidence that Russian special services could access Telegram users’ personal correspondence, including deleted messages, and personal data. The Security Service of Ukraine and the Armed Forces General Staff also raised concerns that the app was used for cyberattacks, phishing, malware distribution, finding users’ geolocation, and adjusting missile strikes.

These are Ukrainian officials’ stated threat rationale, not independently verified technical findings in the cited accounts. Budanov, then identified as Chief of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, said: “I have always stood for freedom of speech, but the issue of Telegram is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security.”

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The NSDC’s published account attributes these concerns to the named Ukrainian security and defence officials.

How the 2024 decision differs from Ukraine’s later prohibited-software list

A government FAQ published in March 2026 describes a separate open list of prohibited software and communication or network equipment. It concerns systems processing state or official information and critical information infrastructure, under a procedure approved by Cabinet Resolution No. 1335 on 22 October 2025. The sources do not establish that this later list is the legal basis for the Telegram-specific device decision made in 2024.

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Measure Mechanism and scope Stated purpose or basis
September 2024 Telegram decision NCCC decision about installing and using Telegram on official devices used by specified personnel and critical-infrastructure enterprises; exception for duties requiring the app. The NSDC account is dated 20 September 2024. Officials cited national-security and operational risks, including access to correspondence and personal data, cyberattacks, phishing, malware, geolocation, and missile targeting. NSDC account
Prohibited-software and equipment list described in the March 2026 FAQ Applies to systems processing state or official information and to critical information infrastructure under the procedure approved by Cabinet Resolution No. 1335 of 22 October 2025. The FAQ says inclusion follows sanctions-related or court grounds and that the list is not a technical safety ranking. It also says there is no universal transition period and refers to reasonable implementation timelines. Government FAQ

The 2026 FAQ therefore should not be read as confirmation of the 2024 Telegram decision’s legal basis or current enforcement.

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Is the Telegram restriction still in force?

The available NSDC decision account and March 2026 FAQ do not confirm whether the September 2024 Telegram restriction is still enforced in precisely the same form on 4 October 2026, or whether a later amendment changed its scope. The documented fact is that the NCCC made the device-specific decision in September 2024; these sources do not settle its current status.

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