Марія БровінськаІсторії
9 October 2026, 09:00
2026-10-09
"Empires Will Fall." The Story of an ERAMer Who Named His 3D Printers After Air Force Aircraft and Prints Parts for FPV and Stingers for the Front
Denis Voznyuk works in the corporate security department of EPAM, and at home he has four 3D printers named after Air Force aircraft. He prints parts for FPV, caps for Stinger missiles, pillboxes for first aid kits, and even elements of lamps for operating rooms in Kharkiv and Dnipro hospitals for the Defense Forces. It all started with a collection for a thermal imager for a relative from the border detachment.
Denis told dev.ua how the community of printers emerged, why he calls 3D printing "a rabbit" of volunteering, and what should not be allowed in helping the military. Below is his direct speech.
Denis Voznyuk works in the corporate security department of EPAM, and at home he has four 3D printers named after Air Force aircraft. He prints parts for FPV, caps for Stinger missiles, pillboxes for first aid kits, and even elements of lamps for operating rooms in Kharkiv and Dnipro hospitals for the Defense Forces. It all started with a collection for a thermal imager for a relative from the border detachment.
Denis told dev.ua how the community of printers emerged, why he calls 3D printing "a rabbit" of volunteering, and what should not be allowed in helping the military. Below is his direct speech.
The path to IT
My name is Denis Voznyuk. I grew up in Podil, Kyiv, and was raised on the patriotic values of the Dynamo Kyiv ultras culture. Today I work in the corporate security department of EPAM. I combine my main work with volunteer activities. Part of it began during the ATO. Then my colleague and I traveled to those regions on business, but we always brought water and snacks for the soldiers at the checkpoints. Today I have four 3D printers, I print for the needs of the Defense Forces.
I am a design engineer by education. I worked in a construction company, later I got into a service company in the field of occupational safety, and a few months before the full-scale invasion I transferred to EPAM. I am responsible for occupational safety and ecology, ensuring the safety of office premises, and organizing safety training for employees.
February 24th found me on a business trip in the Lviv office. We began to actively organize the evacuation of colleagues. I was looking for hotels in Truskavets, Skhidnytsia, looking for buses, and guiding employees on the road. At the same time, I organized the evacuation of my family from Kyiv.
Initial inquiries and fees
My family and I were saving money to repair our apartment and buy a car. But a relative from the Kharkiv detachment of the Border Commandant’s Office of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine contacted us. He needed a collimator and a thermal imager. Then other requests followed — uniforms, shoes, turnstiles… So our family budget for repairs was disappearing little by little. At the same time, a volunteer chat appeared in EPAM, where I posted information about the meetings.
One day, to my surprise, a package arrived at the office with the thermal imager I had been saving for. It turned out that a colleague had read about the request in the chat and purchased the device himself.
Stage of printers "DK"
At the beginning of the collaboration, the community had up to 250 people, many of whom were e-paper users. Now there are fewer — some are in the military, some don’t have time or are burned out, and have distributed printers to schools or units.
3D printing is a "small" volunteering activity, but people are reluctant to donate to it. We mostly buy materials with our own money.
In three years, we have printed over 80 tons of filament, one of which is mine. And the fact that we are seeing a breakthrough in certain areas of the front is the merit of people who tested new solutions, improved them, and promoted them, breaking down bureaucratic walls.
Today, I have four printers in my “arsenal”. I named them after the aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force — MiG-29, JAS 39 Gripen, Su-27, Su-24. I help the Kharkiv-Truskavets guys from the PK detachment of the SR SBSU, the KARATEL reconnaissance unit of the 116th brigade, former colleagues from the 101st OBR of the General Staff, 30th OBR. I print them “legs” for FPV, caps for Stingers, other parts…. And once I had to make pointers with airplanes for the Air Force training centers. For the Kharkiv and Dnipro hospitals, where the wounded are transported after the headquarters, we printed elements of lanterns for conducting operations. On an industrial scale, we print pillboxes for the defenders’ first-aid kits. Our small community of printers consistently helps about 10 units.
I print figurines of our pilots. For example, YellowTail29, Sava (Air Fighter), Air Hooligan, Denfix — experienced pilots of our tactical aviation. I also make airplanes to decorate pictures for the draw, I add the pilots' signatures.
It is a great honor for me that Ivan Smerechansky, the commander of the aviation squadron of the 114th brigade, supports us. The guys from Luhansk region, from the 101st brigade, patriots who dream of regaining their homeland are inspiring. Among them are our colleagues. Pilots are a great brotherhood, where there is no competition, there is a common struggle. By the way, if there are aviation fans among the readers, I highly recommend watching the documentary " Lifting Force ", I was lucky enough to meet some of the heroes in person. And for Kyiv residents, I recommend visiting the " Krylaty " cafe in aviation style. It was opened in honor of the deceased SU-27 fighter pilot Ivan Bolotov.
Our goal is to prevent "bargaining" on assistance to the military. Unfortunately, not all the guys can receive it officially, in the right time. Recently, an acquaintance admitted that they spend about 350,000 UAH. per month with their own funds. I understand that some expenses can be reduced. For example, electric matches, which cost 6 UAH, are sold on the market for 12.
We, the printers, are collapsing these schemes. There is an initiation board for the fpv, which puts it into combat mode. This part is a bridge between the fpv and the ammunition. Now we can produce up to 500 pieces with the cost of one — 450 UAH.
I see that they are being sold on the market for 1000 UAH. We plan to make remote detonation boards using AI that help in demining fields.
Work and volunteering balance
I am inspired by other volunteers from our printing “movement”, as well as colleagues — Igor Kulyk, Sasha Lutsyk, Oleksiy Pastushenko, Tanya Pesotska. The latter combines work, home medical training and service in “Hospitaliery”. For me, the support of my manager Andriy Pachkolin is valuable, thanks to whom I managed to implement many good volunteer projects. And also my family: my wife supports me, until recently my mother helped me. I launched 3D printing remotely, and she changed the panels, put the finished products into boxes, etc. Recently, my mother passed away, and I still haven’t recovered, I don’t delete our “business” correspondence. My daughter is 12 years old, and she also joins in. She recently took training in AI tools during Family Week at ERAM and generated a picture for the collection. Here is a link to the collection for the purchase of a charging station. My mother-in-law helps, even asks to buy her own printer for work.
If I need to switch, I have music and football. I like the title of the song by the band “Boombox” — “Empires Will Fall”. I believe that sooner or later it will happen. I like listening to military rap 1032, Yarmaka, Ulyana Del Rey, Skofka, Intolerant Zygomet (a military man who generated songs with AI, unfortunately, he died in 2025). Songs help me accept our reality. In my free time, despite my long-standing support for Liverpool, I prefer watching Asian Champions League football.
Life has brought many cool people together in the volunteer movement. Artists who paint the sleeves for the raffle, stand-up comedians who hold the same raffle, pilots, entrepreneurs, colleagues from EPAM, among whom are my biggest donors. And for the empire to fall, so that we and our children can live safely at home, we have no choice but to stay united and join the fight as much as possible.
«Моя фінансова мета — накопичити $1 000 000, щоб мати пасивний дохід і жити на нього». Як айтішники витрачають гроші та в що інвестують
Зарплата айтішників в Україні — одна з найвищих. І ІТ-галузь під час війни — єдина галузь, яка зростає, попри війну. А айтішники — серед тих, хто найактивніше підтримують армію. Середній місячний донат айтішника становить 10% від зарплати, або $270. dev.ua вирішив розпитати айтішників, куди вони витрачають гроші й у що інвестують під час війни.
Не Патроном єдиним. Айтішник з EPAM шиє військову амуніцію для собак: історія диво-стартапу для чотирилапих захисників України
Максим Лісович, Interior Designer в ЕРАМ Україна, поза роботою допомагає амуніцією українським військовим… собакам. Так, службові пси носять унікальні жилетки та нашийники, мають спеціальні аптечки та турнікети. Чотирилапі в такому «одязі» більш захищені та впізнавані.
За словами Максима, тільки на заході країни нас захищають сотні військових собак. Айтівець допомагає військовим кінологам нести цю службу гідно, забезпечуючи відповідною амуніцією, спеціальними аптечками та турнікетами. Нещодавно він провів три дні поспіль, власноруч відшиваючи нашийники та повідці. А ще два роки тому шити він не вмів узагалі. Ось історія диво-стартапу.
Австралійське задзеркалля. Історія Delivery Director EPAM, який через війну релокувався із сім'єю до Австралії: як адаптуватися та вижити за океаном?
Григорій Клімов — директор з делівері і керівник великої Platform Engineering-практики в EPAM. Понад 10 років він будував свою кар’єру в українському офісі, але війна змусила його з родиною кардинально змінити життя. В березні Григорій з дружиною і трьома дітьми поїхали з рідного Харкова, деякий час провели в ЄС, а згодом — вирушили до Австралії. «Я мріяв жити в цій країні, коли піду на пенсію. Але війна підштовхнула до того, щоб прийняти рішення значно швидше», — каже Григорій.
Ось його історія.
Очільник EPAM Ukraine: «Було б класно мати якісь прозорі, відкриті механізми виїзду за кордон для обмеженої кількості людей»
Керівник EPAM Ukraine Степан Мітіш, який до призначення відповідав за київський та вінницький офіси компанії, дав велике інтерв’ю AIN. В компанії він працює вже 16 років, тобто знає про український IT-аутсорс багато, якщо не все.
dev.ua обрав найцікавіше з розмови.
