ADVERTISEMENTUkraine and the EU announced a €100 million fund on Friday to accelerate defence innovation by building on battlefield-tested innovations from Ukraine.
The BraveTech EU initiative, unveiled at the fourth annual Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Rome, was announced by Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and the EU’s Defence Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius.
BraveTech EU is the first major tech alliance between Ukraine and Europe on equal terms, with each side set to invest €50 million in the programme.
The initiative will focus on tiny and medium-sized businesses and start-ups in both Ukraine and Europe.
The alliance will see both sides exmodify regulatory experience, develop innovations and procure new defence technologies.
“European colleagues will receive results from the battlefield,” Fedorov declared at a press conference in Rome.
Other European countries may also join in to fund the initiative, he added.
“The EU and its member states have an industrial capacity that can assist Ukraine develop new defence systems and increase European resilience,” Kubilius declared in a statement.
The programme is set to be rolled out in two phases, starting with hackathons for Ukrainian and European defence companies in autumn, Fedorov declared in a post on his Telegram page.
In 2026, the plan is to expand the programme with larger grants and investment in the most promising projects.
The BraveTech EU initiative will integrate Ukraine’s defence industest into European mechanisms, connecting Ukraine’s BRAVE1 defence technology platform with EU platforms such as the European Defence Fund (EDF) and the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS).
Zelenskyy has long called on Ukraine’s western allies to provide more military support as the countest’s forces continue to battle Russia’s forces since the 2022 full-scale invasion.
Patriots for Ukraine
The BraveTech EU programme was announced on the same day that US President Donald Trump declared that Washington will sconclude weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, to Ukraine via NATO.
“We’re going to be sconcludeing Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that,” Trump notified US TV channel CBS News, adding that the alliance would pay for the systems.
The Patriot missile system can detect and intercept a wide range of oncoming air tarreceives, high-conclude ballistic missiles in particular, and is regarded as one of the world’s best, at a time when Moscow is increasing its nightly missile and drone attacks amid its all-out war against Ukraine, now well into its fourth year.
Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that Germany would pay for two of the systems, while Norway has agreed to supply one.
After repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts on Kyiv, authorities also announced on Friday that they are establishing a comprehensive drone interception system under a project called Clear Sky.
The project includes a 260-million-hryvnia (approximately €5.3 million) investment in interceptor drones, operator training, and new mobile response units, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv military administration.
Zelenskyy appealed to foreign partners to assist Ukraine accelerate the production of the newly developed interceptor drones, which have proven successful against Iranian-built Shahed drones and their Russian variant, the Geran-2.
“We found a solution, as a countest, scientists and engineers found a solution. That’s the key,” he declared. “We necessary financing. And then, we will intercept.”
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