News of the week: Ukraine has opened its export of military goods. 97% of local producers have been waiting for this decision! President Zelensky said that it will take the form of ‘controlled export’—only surplus systems can be sold, and only to trusted allies. The first category of equipment to be offered is naval drones. Ukraine’s USVs have already disabled about a third of Russia’s fleet in the Black Sea—now it’s time for them to travel the world!
In this edition:
The first PURL transfer to Ukraine has arrived;
Military export opening: initial facts;
Ukraine’s DELTA outperforms America’s JADC2;
Flamingo cruise missile production increased to 50 per month;
and 20+ key developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.
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Foreign Military Aid and Direct Purchases
🇺🇸 According to Ukrainian outlet Suspilne, the first military equipment provided under the U.S.–NATO agreement within the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program has arrived in Ukraine. Further deliveries are expected soon, a NATO representative said.
A day before, the Trump administration had approved its first U.S. weapons aid packages for Ukraine. According to sources cited by Reuters, as many as two $500 million shipments under the PURL initiative were approved.
The list of countries joining the PURL initiative includes Germany ($500 million), the Netherlands ($500 million), Canada ($500 million), Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (a combined $500 million), Belgium (€100 million), Latvia (€5 million), Estonia (undisclosed amount), and Luxembourg (undisclosed amount).
Altogether, NATO allies hope to channel as much as $10 billion in military aid through PURL.
So far, Ukraine has received more than $2 billion in pledges and expects additional funds in October. Zelensky anticipates reaching around $3.5–3.6 billion.
Although the Ukrainian President refrained from detailing the precise contents of the initial shipments, he did confirm that they would "definitely" encompass missiles for Patriot air defence missile systems and munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
Additional developments:
🇮🇪 Ireland transferred a new military aid package to Ukraine, which includes 34 vehicles and three demining robots.
🇱🇻 Latvia transferred a new batch of Patria 6×6 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. Along with the vehicles, additional equipment was also provided to the Ukrainian military.
🇫🇷 The French Defence Ministry’s annual report shows Ukraine could have received only up to five Mirage 2000-5F fighters withdrawn from French service. This contrasts with earlier estimates of 20, 12, or at least 6 aircraft. According to Defence Express, the figure stood at no more than five as of early 2025, when the reinforcement of Ukraine’s air force was announced.
Military Export Opening: Initial Facts
On September 19, President Zelensky announced the launch of controlled exports of Ukrainian weapons to secure funding and scale up the production of essential military equipment.
Ukraine has set three priorities: first, supplying frontline units; second, replenishing Ukraine’s arsenals; and third, controlled export. “Certain types of weapons — and these are modern systems — we can produce in far greater volumes than we can finance ourselves, and some types we already have in quantities well beyond what Ukraine actually needs. For example, maritime drones, which the world is counting on and which we have in surplus, as well as anti-tank weapons and several other types,” the President said.
The concept of controlled arms exports is expected to be presented within two weeks and will include three new export platforms.
The first platform will be for exports and cooperation with the United States, the second with our European partners, and the third with other global partners who are also interested in Ukrainian weapons and who have provided various forms of support to Ukraine.
According to a recent report by the Tech Force in UA, 97% of private defence industry producers in Ukraine expect the lifting of export restrictions (read my summary here).
“Right now, more than 50% of our production capacity is not being used. We can scale up very quickly. All we need is a steady flow of orders. But at present, the needs of the front are already greater than the total funding available in the entire market,” notes Oleksii Zavrazhnyi, CEO of drone manufacturer Braving. “The Armed Forces’ monthly requirement is about half a million disposable drones—both copters and fixed-wing. However, funding on the market covers only around 250,000 units. At a minimum, there is a twofold funding gap. Most of the financing comes from the state, as volunteers account for only a small share of the market.”
Domestic Production and Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Ukrainian company Fire Point is increasing production of the Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missile to 50 units per month. The previously reported figure was 30 units/month. Read the detailed report about the Flamingo missile here.
Here are some key takeaways from Fire Point’s interview with Liga.Net:
The products of the Fire Point are already the cheapest on the Ukrainian market — and likely among the cheapest globally.
One example of production optimization that lowers cost is the company’s in-house composite wing technology, which reduces the production cycle from seven days to two hours without affecting flight characteristics. By combining mass production with shorter processing times, the final price becomes several times lower than with conventional methods.
Fire Point shares its software improvements free of charge with verified Ukrainian manufacturers, including anti-spoofing tools; the company estimates that its anti-spoofing solution would cost around $3,500–$5,000 on the market, but it is provided at no cost to verified producers who deliver contracts on time and meet military requirements.
All of the company’s products are already roboticized, and work is underway to robotize production lines so they can manufacture weapons at volumes that match or exceed those produced by Russia.
Among recent optimization achievements is Europe’s most powerful design for carbon-winding machine production. Fire Point has fully mastered this technology, meeting its own needs and those of other manufacturers; this unique capability is also used in rocket manufacturing and the oil and gas industry.
Additional developments:
At the Defense Tech Valley 2025 exhibition in Lviv, the Ukrainian company BlueBird unveiled the latest version of its portable drone detector, Chuyka 3.0. The device is designed to alert and warn infantry soldiers of the presence and approach of FPV drones. It detects and intercepts the analog video signal transmitted from the FPV drone to its operator.
Once activated, Chuyka scans frequencies within 4–8 seconds across three key bands that cover up to 95% of the most common FPV drone frequencies (1080–1800 MHz, 3000–4100 MHz, and 4900–6100 MHz).
Within a range of up to 4 km, the detector identifies all drones operating in these bands. Signals are displayed simultaneously on Chuyka’s front-panel information screen as a histogram, with the strongest signal indicating which drone in a given frequency band is closest. The device also provides an audible alert of the threat. Additionally, the intercepted analog video feed from the FPV drone can be viewed on Chuyka’s monitor, allowing the user to respond appropriately—whether to take cover or retreat.
DELTA System — From Civic Initiative to Total Battlefield Control
Retired U.S. Army General David Petraeus remarked that Ukraine’s DELTA system is more advanced than America’s JADC2 system, into which billions of dollars were invested.
Unlike the DOD’s top-down vision for CJADC2, which involves a centrally managed strategy of integrating data flows and operations across all services and international partners, DELTA originated as a bottom-up solution, initially focused on a single, highly effective application: a digital map for situational awareness.
Delta is managed, developed, and maintained by the Center for Innovation and Defense Technologies within the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. The center took over Delta from the NGO Aerorozvidka in 2023, whose engineers initiated its development in 2016 to support fighters in Donbas.
According to Yaroslav Honchar, head of the NGO Aerorozvidka, Ukraine entered the war in 2014 without any effective operational systems, despite billions of hryvnias spent in previous years on projects that never reached the troops.
At that time, everything started as a civic movement, with volunteers taking on the task of creating tools that would support the Armed Forces. Aerorozvidka was already active at the front, implementing projects on a small scale.
The history of DELTA began with the deployment of surveillance cameras in combat zones and their integration into a unified system.
Volunteers purchased the best cameras available in stores, mounted them on tall structures such as around Donetsk airport and mine sites, and then learned to connect them into a network.
Unlike drones, which could only provide reconnaissance while in flight, stationary cameras offered constant visibility of the battlefield.
Before DELTA, commanders had little more than paper maps and radio communication. Artillery chiefs, for example, rarely had a clear picture of where their units’ shells were landing.
DELTA changed this by giving them a real-time visual confirmation of results, something volunteers recognized as essential: artillery must be able to see its own effectiveness, not just hear about it.
While DELTA began as a volunteer initiative, it soon became clear that civil society could not substitute for state functions. Cameras had to be maintained and repaired, personnel needed training, and large-scale deployment required official backing. Cooperation with the state became a necessity.
In 2015, collaboration with a NATO trust fund began, transferring Alliance standards into the project.
Today, DELTA aggregates all possible information sources into a standardized interface for situational awareness. It combines satellite imagery, radio interception, radar data, drones, human intelligence, technical sensors, fire and temperature data, weather updates, and even the paths of enemy satellites.
The system allows every user to understand where they are, where the enemy is, where allies are, and what the plans and tasks ahead look like.
DELTA now supports the targeting of more than 2,000 enemy positions daily and has verified over half a million enemy targets in a single year.
It enables real-time battlefield visualization, operational planning, and information sharing within units, brigades, larger formations, and with allies when required. Its modules cover a wide spectrum of combat-management processes, making it an indispensable “digital combine” for Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
The system has proven itself in combat: it passed information-security checks and survived battlefield testing during the defense of Kyiv in 2022, the strikes on the Black Sea Fleet, the defense of Snake Island, and the liberation of Kherson. Ukrainian forces operate within a protected digital environment that they can trust.
Russia, for its part, has shown great interest in DELTA. The system is under constant attack, with Russians attempting to breach it technically and even interrogating prisoners of war for information about its workings.
While Russia has developed something similar, it is not on the same level. DELTA remains one of Ukraine’s most significant wartime innovations.
Read my summary Combat Software in the Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Cooperation Initiatives
American company Shield AI, together with Ukrainian firm Iron Belly, has developed the long-range strike drone D4 with optical navigation and automatic target guidance. The D4 has a flight range of 100 km and carries a 3 kg payload. A unique feature of the drone is that it relies on optical navigation and can autonomously reach and strike its target after launch.
Current production volumes are around 500–1,000 units per month, and companies are working on scaling up to 1,000 units per month.
Separately, the company presented its ViDAR reconnaissance module with artificial intelligence that can be integrated into Ukrainian Mi-8 and Mi-24 aircraft. AI image analysis allows for high-accuracy target detection and classification. Typical targets for the module include personnel, vehicles, stationary objects, ships, and fast boats.
Read about Ukraine’s AI-enabled drone swarms here.
Additional developments:
🇵🇱 Ukraine and Poland established a Joint Working Group on Unmanned Aerial Systems. Ukraine is ready to share its experience and train Polish military personnel and engineers in implementing defense systems across various fields.
🇩🇰 Terma A/S, the Danish defense company specializing in aerospace production and participating in the F-35 program, opened its representative office in Ukraine.
The main topic of cooperation between Ukraine’s MoD and Terma A/S will be enhancing the aviation capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The focus is primarily on improving and installing missile-warning systems, electronic warfare (EW) equipment, and modernizing aviation systems.
Previously, I reported on Terma’s partnership with Ukraine’s Odd Systems to jointly develop a cost-effective air defense system to intercept enemy drones - read here.
🇱🇻 The Latvian company Global Wolf Motors has already supplied the Ukrainian army with around 1,000 electric scooters, which are being used at the front. Demand in Ukraine has grown from the initial 300 scooters ordered by border guard units to about 1,000 units after special forces also showed interest. In particular, sniper units have successfully used the scooters—snipers can quickly move into position, complete their mission, and withdraw just as swiftly.
🇬🇧 British combat engineering powerhouse Pearson Engineering signed an MoU with Ukrainian defense integrator “Ukrainska Bavovna“. The landmark agreement paves the way for the potential localization of manufacturing for Pearson’s life-saving demining and combat engineering equipment within Ukraine.
🇺🇸 U.S. company Red Cat Holdings partnered with Safe Pro Group Inc. to integrate AI into Black Widow strike drones to enable landmine detection. The drones now feature Safe Pro’s SPOTD system, which processes 4K video onboard and can detect over 150 types of explosive devices in real time, including mines and cluster munitions. The algorithms were trained on 1.88 million images collected in Ukraine, covering more than 8,000 hectares.
Investment Updates
At the Defense Tech Valley 2025 investment summit organized by Brave1, four funds from Europe and the U.S. announced plans to invest more than $100 million in Ukrainian defense technologies.
The Dutch company NUNC Capital allocated €20 million to an initiative for creating venture enterprises to boost Ukraine’s defense innovation ecosystem, with the current priority placed on developing an FOF (Fund of Funds) to channel investments into the local defense industry.
The German-Luxembourg venture fund Verne Capital, which specializes in European defense, security, and cybersecurity companies, announced its intention to invest up to €25 million in Ukrainian defense innovations.
The Swedish fund Varangians unveiled an ambitious investment plan for Ukraine and has already closed its first deal, with details to be disclosed later.
Oedipus Inc. announced the creation of Europe’s first permanent capital fund focused exclusively on defense technologies. The founding team brings many years of experience in investing in Ukrainian autonomous technologies.
Finally, the Ukrainian company Swarmer, which develops “drone swarm” technologies, announced it had raised $15 million from U.S. investment funds led by Broadband Capital Investments. Read about Swarmer here.
“The modern doctrine of war is being shaped in Ukraine. Our message to international investors and companies is simple:
If you are not in Ukraine, you are not in the defense technology market.
Since 2024, Ukrainian defense companies have attracted $90 million in investments, with the average ticket size rising from $300,000 to $1 million,” said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Fedorov.
Major Developments on the Battlefield and Beyond
On the night of September 20, Russia attacked Ukraine with 579 UAVs, 8 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, and 32 Kh-101 cruise missiles. Among those that failed to reach their targets were 552 UAVs, 2 Iskanders, and 29 Kh-101 missiles. Most of the Russian Kh-101 missiles were downed by F-16 fighter jets.
On September 16, Ukraine’s military intelligence service claimed responsibility for a series of blasts near the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok (more than 7.000 km from Ukraine), though local authorities described the incident as a gas explosion. The attack targeted a Russian military site and was carried out in revenge for “war crimes” committed in Ukraine.
Ukraine is striking Russia’s oil refineries and export facilities with drones to cut off fuel supplies for the military and reduce the Kremlin’s petroleum revenues. The attacks have disrupted production, triggering gasoline shortages and price hikes that have hit independent distributors the hardest. Ukraine says it has targeted facilities handling nearly half of Russia’s seaborne crude exports. In August alone—during the peak of the summer driving season—Ukrainian drones carried out at least 13 attacks on major refineries, more than half the total recorded in the previous seven months. In response, Russia has banned gasoline exports and ordered refineries to prioritize domestic diesel supplies, restricting outbound shipments. The facilities under attack are critical to fuel distribution in the European part of Russia, home to more than two-thirds of the population.
Putin has concluded that military escalation is the best way to force Ukraine into talks on his terms and that Donald Trump is unlikely to do much to bolster Kyiv’s defenses, according to people close to the Kremlin, Bloomberg reports, citing sources in Russia.
Putin has also been observing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza. He views Netanyahu’s campaign in Gaza as more severe than Russia’s war in Ukraine and notes that it has been largely accepted by governments in the US and Europe, undermining their criticism of Moscow.
Putin seeks to achieve some visible victories by winter, but he is failing on the battlefield so far. Therefore, he turns to nuclear blackmail and psychological pressure, including mass bombardments.
Russian attacks last year wiped out nine gigawatts (GW) of Ukraine’s power generation — half of its capacity — by knocking out eight thermal plants and five hydropower plants, prompting rolling blackouts across the country.
Putin may have allowed Kremlin sources to share his logic with Bloomberg and likely seeks to leverage Bloomberg‘s article to exploit friction between European and US officials, to feed into the wider Russian narrative that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable, and to create fear in Ukrainian society ahead of Winter 2025-2026 - ISW.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has recorded more than 11,000 instances of Russian forces using chemical weapons against Ukraine’s Defense Forces. Around 40% of these cases involved grenades containing chemical agents, while the rest were unidentified munitions.
The main delivery method has been the dropping of K-51 and RG-Vo grenades from UAVs. These weapons are used to force soldiers out of shelters, with the highest number of incidents recorded along sectors where Russian troops are conducting active offensives.
Ukraine has liberated 160 km square in a 'counteroffensive operation' in Donetsk Oblast, Zelensky says.
DeepState, an online battlefield tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, showed Russian troops made rapid advances near Dobropillia last month, but that some of their gains had evaporated in recent weeks. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.
Other Developments
Two German Eurofighter jets were scrambled on 21 September in response to a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea.
Three Russian fighter jets flew into Estonian airspace on 19 September in what would appear to be the third attempt by the Kremlin this month to test NATO’s eastern border.
The MiG-31 aircraft — heavy interceptors capable of carrying Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile — entered via the Gulf of Finland. The jets circled for about 12 minutes. Italy, Sweden and Finland scrambled F-35 fighters after the Foxhounds flew into Estonian airspace.
The Estonian General Staff reported that the Russian aircraft had no published flight plans and that the aircraft’s transponders were disabled, preventing Estonian air traffic control from two-way communication with the pilots.
In 2015, Türkiye needed 17 seconds to shoot down a Russian Su-24, whereas in 2025, Russian jets spent a full 12 minutes in Estonian airspace. According to data released by Türkiye, Russian aircraft entered the country’s airspace by more than 2 km and remained there for 17 seconds. Prior to that, they had received 10 warnings over the course of five minutes demanding that they change course.
The Netherlands has announced that it will deploy its air defense systems to protect the NATO Support and Training Unit for Ukraine (NSATU), located in Rzeszów, Poland—70 km from the border in the country’s southeast. The deployment will include two Patriot air defense systems, one NASAMS system, and counter-drone equipment. Read about the role of NSATU here.
Thank you for the knowledge! Great to know Ukraine is active in aI and tech dod!
Thank Goodness for the ingenuity, courage and tenacity of the Ukrainians in this wretched era of empowered evil criminals. Leaders in the struggle for freedom from tyranny!!! Thank you Olena Kryzhanivska for such an excellent update on the strengths of so many!! Impressive! Empowering!! We persist!