San Francisco, Nov 3 (IANS): Microsoft on Thursday said it will extend technology support free of charge for Ukraine throughout calendar year 2023.

Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, said that the company will provide additional technology aid valued at roughly $100 million.

This "will ensure that government agencies, critical infrastructure and other sectors in Ukraine can continue to run their digital infrastructure and serve citizens through the Microsoft Cloud," Smith said in a blog post.

He announced this at a joint press conference with Mykhailo?Fedorov, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, in Lisbon, Portugal.

The latest commitment will bring Microsoft's total support for Ukraine to more than $400 million since the war began in February.

"The continued defense of Ukraine depends in part on a critical digital alliance of countries, companies and nonprofits. Since the war began in February, Microsoft and other tech companies have provided unprecedented technology assistance to the government and people of Ukraine," said Smith.

By disbursing digital infrastructure into the public cloud, Microsoft and others have supported critical Ukrainian services through data centers across Europe.

"As underscored in Microsoft's report in June, this has played a critical role in protecting the resilience and security of Ukraine's data and digital services even in the face of Russian cruise missile and other kinetic attacks on Ukraine's government data center and other physical assets," Smith informed.

The company is supporting the country with critical cybersecurity protection and providing data and support to international organisations aiding Ukraine and addressing war crimes against civilians.