In this video interview, Resilience Media’s John Biggs speaks with Denys Gurak, COO and Chief Investment Officer at MITS Capital in Kyiv. MITS – short for “might” in Ukrainian – is an investment group backing Ukraine’s fast-growing defense technology sector, with a special focus on drone warfare and supply chain independence from China.
Gurak explains why Ukraine’s defense industry is uniquely positioned to serve NATO and Western allies, tracing its roots back to the Soviet era’s massive aerospace and defense workforce. He outlines how MITS Capital’s portfolio companies are replacing critical Chinese-made components with domestic solutions, and why Ukraine’s low-cost, high-skill manufacturing base is becoming essential for Western weapons systems.
The conversation covers MITS’s hands-on incubation and acceleration model, the challenges of scaling hardware startups in wartime, and the urgent need for institutional capital from the US and Europe to fuel growth. Gurak also shares the story of a Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle company that scaled production faster than all Western competitors combined, driven by direct feedback from the front lines.
This is a deep look at how Ukraine’s innovation ecosystem is adapting to war — and why its success matters for global security.
