Ukraine and EU launch €100 million military innovation partnership

Ukraine 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 small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups in both Ukraine and Europe.

The alliance will see both sides exchange regulatory experience, develop innovations and procure new defence technologies.

“European colleagues will receive results from the battlefield,” Fedorov said 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 help Ukraine develop new defence systems and increase European resilience,” Kubilius said 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 said 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 industry 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 country’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 said that Washington will send weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, to Ukraine via NATO.

“We’re going to be sending Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that,” Trump told 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 targets, high-end 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 said 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 help Ukraine accelerate the production of the newly developed interceptor drones, which have proven successful against Iranian-made Shahed drones and their Russian variant, the Geran-2.

“We found a solution, as a country, scientists and engineers found a solution. That’s the key,” he said. “We need financing. And then, we will intercept.”