New victories at ICOA 2026 as Kyiv Polytechnic cherishes cyber champions
Four school students who passed the nationwide selection process for the Ukrainian national team and underwent intensive training with the dcua team of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute represented Ukraine with flying colours at the inaugural International Cyber Olympiad in AI (ICOA 2026), held in Sydney, Australia, from 27 June to 2 July 2026.
The Team Ukraine included Roman Mielamud, Oleksandr Petrenko, Polina Proskurnia, and Mykyta Sukovach.
Together with team leaders Andrii Voitsekhovskyi, a postgraduate at the Kyiv Polytechnic’s Institute of Physics and Technology (IPT), and Maksym Hinkul, a student in the third year at IPT, the team demonstrated the highest level of training and featured on the medal podium.
According to the results of the Team Ukraine’s individual standings, Roman Mielamud won a gold award on Day 1 for AI4CTF (AI as your teammate) and a silver award in the CTF4EAI (Embodied AI Security) Pioneer Round. Oleksandr Petrenko secured the bronze for AI4CTF and finished third among Top 12 Finalists in the CTF4EAI Pioneer Round. Mykyta Sukovach also received a bronze award for AI4CTF.
Overall, Ukraine came third in the Team Medal Table.
This success once again bears evidence of the excellence of Ukrainian cybersecurity education and the effectiveness of training provided to young specialists at Kyiv Polytechnic.
Team Ukraine’s participation and results were reported by the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, The Sydney Morning Herald, and QS Global Education News.
The journey of the Ukrainian delegation to Sydney was supported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Australia and Oleksandr Korniienko, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
Special thanks are due to Ajax Systems, Raiffeisen Bank, and the Kyiv School of Economics for their financial support.
