In this episode I have the great honor of welcoming Andrii Hrytseniuk, who was CEO of Brave1, Ukraine's government defense tech cluster, when we recorded this conversation. We talk about how Brave1 grew out of the Army of Drones project and replaced slow, classical defense procurement with a model built for speed: six laws changed, more than 1,000 projects funded and new products certified for the front line in roughly two weeks. Andrii explains why the army doesn't really want the tank, why cheap, niche air defense beats expensive missiles, and how an unmanned front line can make up for the lack of people. An air alert even goes off in the middle of the recording. As someone who runs a defense tech investment firm myself, I think there are a lot of lessons here for Europe, because as Andrii puts it, the peaceful period is over.

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All opinions expressed are my own or those of my guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Air Force, or the Kingdom of Sweden.

0:00 Intro

0:37 What is Brave1?

2:33 From civilian tech to Army of Drones

5:07 Changing laws, culture and time to market

11:59 The playbook: building a Brave1 before war comes

15:12 Grants and a 60% success rate

23:39 Testing, certification and matchmaking

30:26 Cheap air defense vs. expensive missiles

33:19 The unmanned front line

37:23 Stop buying "perfect" products

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In this episode I have the great honor of welcoming Oleh Krisenko, a Ukrainian war veteran who served ten years in Azov, from 2014 to 2024. Oleh went from acting in a children's theatre to the army, and when the full-scale invasion began he was running logistics for the regiment's headquarters in Mariupol. He tells me about being surrounded, why they chose to stay and fight so that Kyiv would stand, and almost three months defending the steel plant on one meal a day. We talk about why they finally surrendered, and about almost a year in Russian captivity, first near Donetsk and then in Taganrog, where beatings, electrocution and hunger were part of every day. Oleh also explains how his exchange happened, and why he wants Europe to remember the roughly 600 Azov soldiers who are still prisoners. This one is heavy, and I think it is important to hear.

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🔥 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/maxvillman

All opinions expressed are my own or those of my guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Air Force, or the Kingdom of Sweden.

0:00 Intro

0:50 Welcome and Oleh's background

7:26 Mariupol when the full-scale invasion began

11:38 Surrounded in the city

15:07 The decision to stay and fight

20:26 Defending the steel plant

29:20 Why they surrendered

33:02 The surrender and the first prison near Donetsk

43:05 Taganrog: beatings, torture and hunger

58:18 The exchange and the soldiers still in captivity

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