Dorozvidka #32: Stanislav Hryshyn, Oles Khudoba, Yuriy Poritskyi, Oleksandr Yakovenko, Valeriy Zarubin – plus NYT and WSJ

Last week, leading global media outlets — almost as if by agreement — published major stories about Ukrainian defence technology (some even more than one):

• The New York Times released a large feature about Fire Point, covering both the good and the bad.
• The same NYT also ran a story about Ukraine’s “gamification of war”, embodied in the Army of Drones: Bonus programme.
• The Guardian wrote about the now-famous “e-points” system, including comments from First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
• The Wall Street Journal published a major piece on the rapid development of Ukraine’s drone technology — and how Western funding is helping the sector expand.
• Meanwhile, The Economist noted that relatively low-cost Ukrainian drones and guided munitions are often far more effective than their expensive Western counterparts, including the American Switchblade (finally, someone said it out loud!).

Ukrainian media also had plenty to offer last week — interviews, podcasts, and op-eds featuring founders of General Chereshnya, DevDroid, Double Tap Investments, TAF Industries, and Blue Bird.
Here’s a brief roundup in Dorozvidka #32.

Stanislav Hryshyn: Why defence company data should remain closed

On 17 September 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Law No. 11533, which restricts public access to information about the location, production facilities, real estate, and even intellectual property of defence companies. The law takes effect on 18 November and will remain in force throughout martial law and for one year after it ends.

In his Ukrainska Pravda column, Stanislav Hryshyn, co-founder of General Chereshnya, writes that this is a mature step by a state that knows how to distinguish transparency from naivety during wartime — and it’s not an “attack on democracy.” Instead, it’s a strategic move that saves lives, production sites, and critical infrastructure. The next step, he says, should be creating a secure, non-public national register of defence enterprises managed by the state.

Read more in the article.

Oles Khudoba from Double Tap on the Zakryv Round podcast

Oles Khudoba, co-founder of the Finnish–Ukrainian investment company Double Tap Investments, appeared on the Zakryv Round podcast. He spoke about the story behind Double Tap, its investment focus, the key challenges facing Ukrainian defence tech, the evolution of the country’s defence startups over the past three years, and when a billion-dollar company might finally emerge among them.

DevDroid CEO: Interview at the crash test for strike UGVs

Recently near Lviv, Ukrainian manufacturers held a crash test for strike UGVs. The Page attended the event and spoke with Yurii Poritskyi, CEO of DevDroid, about the development of UGVs, the Defence Forces’ growing demand for such systems, and how profitable this business has become.

Podcast with Oleksandr Yakovenko, TAF Industries

Oleksandr Yakovenko, founder and CEO of TAF Industries, joined the Militarnyi podcast. In the interview, he discussed:

• the updated drone procurement system;
• adapting production to military needs;
• the TAF Lab and TAF Bonus programmes;
• and prospects for exporting Ukrainian-made weapons.

Interview with Valerii Zarubin, co-founder of Blue Bird

DEV.UA published an interview with Valerii Zarubin, co-founder of Blue Bird, the company behind the Chuika drone detectors and Grets EW systems. The company entered the market only in early 2024 but already offers a broad product line — from various EW systems for different use cases to its own UGVs, FPV drones, relay stations, and aerial repeaters.

In the interview, Zarubin explained how he pivoted from construction to defence tech, how to build a defence company from scratch and without prior experience, and shared his thoughts on arms exports, international scaling, the “China factor,” and the state’s role in defence tech.

Find previous editions of Dorozvidka here.