War

Oleksandr Filippov, a veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who dedicated 30 months to the war, was demobilized and is returning to civilian life and building a career as a developer.

Stands worth thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. Large halls with an audience almost like during concerts. Speakers from the Ukrainian miltech sector as «stars». Vivid field tests of new equipment samples, no less vivid photos and videos on social networks. Miltech events have been really big in recent years, as the industry itself has become. As sensitive as this topic is in terms of security, marketing here, as in any other business, has been the main driver. However, on July 24, something happened that put events in the miltech sector on hold — Russian missiles attacked participants in a defense event near Kyiv, killing more than 10 people and injuring about 100.

Uninterrupted internet for the occupiers and the ability to control drones or even cruise missiles in real time hundreds of kilometers deep into Ukraine — this is exactly the strategic threat posed by the Russian satellite system "Rassvet". The Russians are creating a militarized analogue of Starlink, which will allow them to select targets right during the drone's flight. We analyzed this threat together with aviation expert Anatoly Khrapchinsky to understand what we were facing and, most importantly, how to counter it.

Ukrainian Defense Tech is not just R&D in the rear, but a continuous race to get ahead. While the enemy tries to pressure with numbers and meaty assaults, our engineers seek technological advantage: disassemble Russian «Eagles», analyze enemy communications and redesign their products right during serial production. We spoke with representatives of three Ukrainian MilTech manufacturers: Pavel Kosolapkin (CTO and co-founder of Frontline Robotics), Valery Zarubin (co-founder of BlueBird Tech), and Oleg Fedoryshin (R&D director of DevDroid). They told us how Ukrainian weapons manufacturers get enemy trophies, what is really surprising about Russian «analogs», and why the life cycle of a successful product in this war is sometimes measured in weeks.

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Chernivtsi sentenced a Ukrainian software engineer to four years in prison for collaborating with a Russian company. In fact, he continued to develop a software package for Russian customers from May 2022 to October 2025. The sentence was suspended, but the court banned him from working on a specific product for 10 years. We tell you the details.