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Tymofiy Mylovanov

@Mylovanov

Sep 15 • 9 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X

Ukraine’s war has turned veterans into Europe’s new defence entrepreneurs.

Reuters: Ex-soldiers now run 1 in 4 of the region’s 80 defence startups. VC funding hit $5.2bn in 2024 — up 500% from pre-war levels — as Ukraine’s frontlines forced rapid testing and scale. 1/

Frontline use in Ukraine cut development from years to months.

Units return faults after missions in Bakhmut or Kharkiv, and startups issue fixes within weeks. Civilian-only firms cannot match this pace. 2/

Veteran-founded Quantum Systems, now valued at $1bn, supplies reconnaissance drones to Ukraine.

Other firms include Stark (drones), Arondite (battle-planning software), and Kyiv-based Terminal Autonomy, which shifted from kamikaze drones to cruise missile work. 3/

German veteran Matt Kuppers co-founded Defence Invest.

He spotted that an Austrian anti-drone gun lost accuracy when the barrel overheated — an error missed by civilian founders. His firm now tests the system with Austria’s army. 4/

Ex-German officer Marc Wietfeld built ARX Robotics. His unmanned ground vehicles are already in Ukraine. “You can’t solve a problem you don’t know,” he said, explaining why combat experience shaped the design. 5/

Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade lost €300k on an unmanned vehicle that broke down in combat.

Soldier Viktoriia Honcharuk said: “I wish more companies were founded by military people,” after the failed system cost both money and time. 6/

Procurement knowledge gives veterans an edge. They know NATO and defence ministry standards, helping startups pass certification and deliver systems to Ukraine that civilian founders struggle to get approved. 7/

McKinsey data: European defence tech VC rose 500% in 2021–24 compared to 2018–20.

NATO Innovation Fund and Dealroom tracked $5.2bn raised in 2024, much of it tied to equipment tested or deployed in Ukraine. 8X

Source: reuters.com/business/aeros…

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More from @Mylovanov

Tymofiy Mylovanov

@Mylovanov

Sep 17

Putin spent 250,000 soldiers’ lives, his best brigades and hundreds of billions to seize a few towns in Donbas - The Atlantic.

Now he faces a hostile Ukraine armed by the West, a wrecked economy and reliance on China. His war to restore power turned Russia into a graveyard. 1/

Whatever happens on the front, Ukraine remains an armed enemy on Russia’s border. Europe cut Gazprom, embargoed trade, and rearmed.

NATO grew to include Finland and Sweden. Putin sacrificed his soldiers so Europe could build air defenses. 2/

Russia’s army burned through its best cadres and equipment. Rebuilding will take years and billions.

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

@Mylovanov

Sep 17

That’s horrible to death. Two 13-year-old brothers weighing only 8.5 kg each were found bedridden in frontline Pokrovsk.

They survived over a year under the care of their 10-year-old brother, Platón, after their grandmother's death, Ukrainska Pravda reports. 1/

The boys have severe genetic condition lissencephaly type 1, causing neurological disorders, epilepsy, and protein-energy deficiency - they cannot move and need constant care. 2/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

@Mylovanov

Sep 17

Lavrov: The Americans came to understand that the people who, in protest against the oppressive Nazi regime, voted in referendums to join — to return to — the Russian Federation will never again live under the yoke of the current Kyiv authorities.

1/

Lavrov: The Russian army never targets civilian infrastructure or the population. For every accusation, we ask: where is the proof, where are the facts? As for fakes accusing our army of crimes, they later turned out to be committed by the Ukrainian regime. 2/

Lavrov: When blatant violations of international humanitarian law can’t be denied, the UN Secretariat timidly issues impersonal calls for restraint — to both sides. We saw the same reaction when it was clear how inhumanly the “Nazi formations” of Kyiv acted.

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

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Sep 17

Snyder: What happens in Ukraine will affect whether Russia, the EU, the US endures. We are not spectators. History shows no state is alone; a smaller power can prevail. Russia could win, Ukrainian victory must be thought of with that in mind. 1/

Snyder: Trump’s superpower is to disappoint. His tweets prepare for disappointment. Europeans must act, not use US policy as excuse. Wars end for economic reasons, but power matters only if turned into political-military force. Europe has power to help Ukraine win. 2/

Snyder: A necessary condition for victory is sovereignty. The ability to set domestic and foreign policy, write a constitution. Without this, it won't feel like victory. The subjective sense of sovereignty is tied to Ukrainians making decisions and integration with the EU. 3/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

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Sep 16

In July 2014, DPR militants stopped 16-year-old Stepan Chubenko.

They knocked out his teeth, tied his hands and legs with tape, pulled a T-shirt over his head, and executed him. Then they dumped his body in a trench near a river, writes Babel. 1/

Stepan traveled home to Kramatorsk. At Mospyne station, gunmen dragged him off the train [parents say for his blue-yellow ribbons and Karpaty football scarf]

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His mother Stalina and father Viktor searched every hospital and trench around Donetsk. For weeks they begged militants for answers.

Stalina caught DPR leader Zakharchenko in his convoy and screamed: “My son is 16. Where is he?” The next day he called her: “He was shot.” 3/

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

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Sep 16

Kellogg: Ukrainians are not the obstacle to peace — Putin is. We are in the last 10 yards of the fight. This war could end tomorrow if he agreed to come to the table and negotiate. 1/

Yermak: Putin will not stop at Ukraine unless stopped together. Ukraine today is the shield of Europe and the free world.

Only a strong and united answer will prove to him that his comfortable position cannot last. 2/

Powell: Putin’s sport is judo, and he thrives on keeping options open. The West must close those options.

His summer campaign has already faltered. Real pressure, combined with a way out, can force him into real negotiations. 3/