Snake Island Institute – a new platform for defence partnership between Ukraine and the United States – was presented in Kyiv

The first offline event of the Snake Island Institute, a public organisation dedicated to strengthening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States with a focus on defence and security, was held in Kyiv. Representatives of the military command, government agencies, partner organisations, expert circles, and civil society participated in the event.

The organisation’s goal is to combine the combat experience of the Ukrainian front with Western strategic thinking, develop sustainable cooperation between Ukraine and the United States, and prepare the Ukrainian defence sector for new stages of the war. To this end, the organisation conducts advocacy visits to the United States, regular briefings for Congress, prepares analytical reports, and organises hackathons.

Snake Island Institute works across three areas: advocacy, analytics, and defence technologies.

The roundtable addressed issues of collective Western security, NATO transformation, the role of the Snake Island Institute in international advocacy through veteran networks, and the integration of defence technologies as a prerequisite for Ukraine’s inclusion in the Western security community.

Following the event, analytical recommendations will be prepared jointly with Ukrainian and international partners. These will form the basis for further deepening Ukraine’s defence partnership with the United States and its allies.

A recent report by The Recursive showed that Ukraine significantly outpaces other countries in the region in terms of the number of defence start-ups, the scale of talent involved in the industry, the share of defence spending in total GDP, and various other indicators.