Ukraine’s Defence Innovation Is Reshaping European Security

14 September 2026

Elena Maysyura, Partner in Friisberg’s Kyiv office, attended the 22nd Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting, Peace Through Strength NOW!, joining an extraordinary gathering of political leaders, military commanders, policymakers, business leaders and representatives of the defence and technology sectors.

With 700 participants from 28 countries, the meeting inevitably focused on the immediate challenge of securing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. Yet another theme ran strongly through the discussions: the remarkable technological capability Ukraine has developed during the war, and the importance of maintaining that advantage.

For Elena and for our colleagues across Friisberg, this has particular relevance because Defence & Aerospace is an important area of our executive search and leadership advisory work, both in Ukraine and internationally.

From battlefield necessity to technological advantage

One of the most interesting discussions examined how Ukraine and its partners can maintain a technological advantage over Russia, bringing together former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and leaders from the defence and technology community. Among the participants was Iryna Terekh, CEO of Fire Point, a Ukrainian defence technology company with which Friisberg is proud to work.

Fire Point represents something much bigger that is happening across Ukraine. Necessity has created an extraordinary environment for innovation, in which defence technologies are being conceived, developed, tested and adapted at a speed rarely seen within more conventional defence markets.

Ukraine is consequently developing not only new capabilities, but also companies and leaders whose experience will become increasingly relevant to the future of European defence.

For Elena, this transformation is something she sees at close quarters. Ukrainian defence businesses are evolving rapidly, often moving from entrepreneurial beginnings towards increasingly sophisticated organisations requiring the leadership, structures and international relationships necessary to support their next stage of growth.

The next challenge is leadership

Technology may be driving the transformation, but technology alone cannot deliver it.

The next generation of Ukrainian defence businesses will need exceptional leaders who can preserve the speed and ingenuity that made them successful while building organisations capable of scaling and operating internationally. They will need executives who understand technology and manufacturing, but who are equally comfortable with investment, governance, organisational development and the increasingly complex relationships between industry and government.

There is a wider European dimension to this challenge. Ukraine's experience is already questioning established assumptions about how quickly defence technologies can be developed and deployed, while the knowledge being accumulated through their use in real operational conditions has significance far beyond Ukraine itself.

A two-way relationship between Ukraine and the UK

For Friisberg, this makes the connection between our teams in Ukraine and the UK particularly valuable.

The UK has one of Europe's most established and internationally connected defence and aerospace sectors, while Ukraine has developed an extraordinary concentration of technological innovation, operational experience and entrepreneurial leadership. The relationship between the two should not therefore be viewed simply in terms of British expertise and investment flowing towards Ukraine. Increasingly, knowledge, talent and opportunity will travel in both directions.

President Zelenskyy told the YES meeting that Ukraine's own defence capabilities, production capacity and partnerships with Europe and other allies would remain an essential part of the country's security guarantees both during the war and afterwards.

That longer-term perspective matters because the organisations being built in Ukraine today will not cease to matter when the immediate conflict ends. Many of the technologies, businesses and leadership capabilities being developed under the extraordinary pressures of war are likely to become an important part of Europe's future defence architecture.

Connecting leadership across borders

For Elena Maysyura and our colleagues in Ukraine, being part of this community means witnessing that transformation from within and working alongside the businesses and leaders helping to shape it.

Across Friisberg, our long-established Defence & Aerospace practice gives us a broader international perspective, connecting Ukrainian innovation and leadership with relevant experience, talent and organisations across the UK and our global network.

That matters because the next generation of defence leaders will not necessarily come from the places in which the industry has traditionally looked for them. As technology crosses borders and conventional boundaries between defence, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, AI and autonomous systems continue to blur, finding the right leadership increasingly requires an international perspective too.