Illia Kabachynskyi

Ukrainian defense tech saw an unprecedented surge in 2025, with more than $100 million raised in investments. The leader is the startup Swarmer, known for developing “drone swarm” technology, which closed the industry's largest publicly disclosed funding round in 2025—$15 million. The company is now seeking a listing on Nasdaq.

In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine had just a handful of drone companies. Today, there are several hundred in drones alone. Across roughly a dozen DefenceTech subsectors, investments now run into the tens of millions of dollars. And that’s only what’s publicly visible.

Relentless Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy are crippling a service that should never fail—communication. Prolonged blackouts knock out power, leaving networks unstable or offline. In these moments, SpaceX’s Starlink steps in as a vital lifeline.

After several rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, two key issues remain unresolved: territory in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is ready for further talks and has reached an understanding with the United States on other points. The only exception: not in Russia or Belarus.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been bleeding manpower—losing 900 to 1,000 soldiers killed or wounded every day. By historical standards, the scale is catastrophic. In past Soviet and Russian campaigns, even a few thousand casualties could shake the regime.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from parts of the Donetsk region in exchange for a ceasefire—while seeking to hold on to as much occupied Ukrainian land as possible, refusing to retreat from occupied areas in other regions. The issue is not merely the 6,000 square kilometers still under Ukrainian control, but rather Putin’s broader ambition to seize all of Ukraine. For Kyiv, conceding territory would only set the stage for future aggression—hence its firm stance that certain lines cannot be crossed.