War

38-year-old Dmytro, an unmanned aerial vehicle operator of the 128th separate heavy mechanized brigade «Wild Field», has been at the front since 2024. Before his service, he worked as an IT specialist and bartender.

Ukrainian defense tech has long ceased to be a niche industry. Companies attract hundreds of millions of hryvnias in investments, launch new production facilities, compete for engineers, and create technologies that reach the front every day. But how do the people who run these companies actually see the market? In the new dev.ua column, we ask seven identical questions to the heads of Ukrainian defense tech companies. About the main problems of the industry, the shortage of personnel, overvalued technologies, the future of war, and the skills without which it is difficult to work in the defense industry today. The first guest of the column is Oleksiy Kolesnik, director of XTI Engineering. The company specializes in the development and production of equipment for humanitarian demining and operates in the Kharkiv region, one of the regions where the war has the greatest impact on the daily work of engineers.

In Threads, a mobilized IT guy with the nickname oncceuponatime_dude keeps a diary about how he ended up in the army. We’ve already told you about his experience from «gentle busification» and a night in the CCK barracks to his first day in the battalion . In the second part of the AIT man’s confessions and discoveries, he talked about the BZVP, «NATO shots on the lips,» and «playing stormtroopers.» In the third part of the diary, the AIT member shared his thoughts on why those who were converted to the military did not flee the army, how different the conditions of service are in the staff and infantry, and weapons in the blanket. The fourth part of his observations — about intimidation in the army and the redeployment of the unit — is not without surprises . Today we are publishing the fifth part of the frankness — about intimidation in the army, losses, and life in a front-line city.