Weapon

At the beginning of last summer, the Brave1 defense innovation cluster was headed by Andriy Hrytsenyuk, a top manager with over 20 years of experience in IT, mainly in the banking sector. Since 2023, he has already worked in the Ministry of Digital Affairs team, where he participated in the development and launch of a number of key digital products. In an interview with dev.ua, Andriy Hrytsenyuk spoke about his attitude to personnel rotations at the Ministry of Digital and Defense, about plans for laser weapons and their implementation; about programs for interceptor drones and missile production; about how often Brave1-funded miltech startups never reach the release of the promised product and why they have to be sued, and also about the mysterious but high-profile plans of the cluster for 2026.

Since the beginning of 2026, Ukraine has been operating a special tax and legal regime, Defence City, launched specifically for companies engaged in the production of defense products. In the second half of last year, many politicians presented it as a great boon for the Ukrainian defense industry, but as of mid-January, most miltech and deftech companies, despite all the promised «bonuses», are only eyeing the opportunity to join this special regime.