GLOBAL DETERMINANTS OF THE FORMATION OF UKRAINE'S DIGITAL ECONOMY IN THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Abstract

The article examines the global determinants shaping Ukraine’s digital economy in the course of European integration. The relevance of the study stems from the fact that in 2025–2026 the architecture of Ukraine’s digital economy is increasingly being shaped by the external regulatory, institutional and technological regimes of the European Union. The purpose of the article is to develop an analytical framework that makes it possible to identify the key external determinants of Ukraine’s digital transformation, define the channels of their influence and outline the strategic implications for the state, business and digital governance. The study proposes the author’s model of the external determination of Ukraine’s digital economy, according to which its current architecture is shaped by three groups of factors: regulatory and legal, institutional and infrastructural, and market and technological. It is proved that the impact of these factors is realised through four channels: regulatory and legal, institutional and infrastructural, market and technological, and trust and communication. The article substantiates that European integration creates for Ukraine not only a framework for legal approximation but also mechanisms of digital modernisation through the development of the data economy, digital trust, interoperability, cyber resilience, innovation infrastructure and cross-border electronic communications. It is established that the economic effect of digital integration is manifested in reduced regulatory uncertainty, lower transaction costs, broader access to the wider digital market and stronger capacity of businesses, especially SMEs, for digital modernisation. At the same time, the integration effect is asymmetrical due to the uneven digital maturity of Ukrainian enterprises and the gap between legal adaptation and actual institutional capacity. The article concludes that the successful formation of Ukraine’s digital economy depends not on the formal harmonisation of individual rules, but on the ability to synchronise legal approximation with the development of institutional capacity, data infrastructure, digital trust, cyber resilience and business adaptation to the new rules of the digital market.