If you only read the headlines this week, you’d think Poland and Ukraine are falling apart. If you were in Gdańsk few days ago, you saw the opposite. Presidents come and go. Nations remain. Poland and Ukraine cannot afford historical amnesia. But neither can we afford historical captivity. Between these two extremes runs a narrow, difficult path — the path of recognizing both our heroes and our mistakes. It is the only way to build a future without re-litigating the past at every turn. Over the past four years, Poland has done more for Ukraine than any other country in the world. First to deliver heavy weapons in 2022 — 318 tanks, 586 armored vehicles, 137 artillery systems. First to provide combat aircraft (14 MiG-29s). First in the world by aid as a share of GDP (4.91%). First country to recognize our independence in 1991. But the most important number is different — 77% of Poles personally helped Ukrainian refugees. Poland received two million of our people and did not build a single camp. They housed them in their own homes and temporary shelters. The Law on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine was passed on March 12, 2022 — granting legal status, access to the labor market, healthcare, social benefits, and education. No medal, no diploma, and no political scandal can rewrite this arithmetic of human solidarity. I am not a diplomat — I am an entrepreneur. I work with people who understand: between our nations there is no line through which Moscow can drive a wedge. Because everything Moscow has done over the past three hundred years is use our old wounds to blind us to the new threat. In Gdańsk, we took an important step with Poland’s largest defense holding — Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa. Together we will produce unmanned systems — built on Ukrainian battlefield experience and Polish industrial capability. The kind of work that will make both our nations stronger the next time Moscow decides to test which one of us to break first. Because we know one thing from our shared history: when the enemy comes, he comes for both nations at once. He just decides who to start with. PGZ and TAF will be one tooth of this shared shield. Slava Ukraini. Niech żyje Polska.

In 2022, the Kremlin launched its “special operation” believing it would give the West a master class in military power. Four years later the lesson has indeed been learned only it reads in the opposite direction. May 2026. By Decree №374, the President of Ukraine officially permits Moscow to hold a parade on Red Square. No military hardware for the first time in 19 years. No mobile connectivity in the city. No foreign press. The guest list reduced to figures of contested or unrecognized legitimacy. And with written authorization from the country Russia planned to occupy in three days. What sits between those two points is not “successful defense.” It is a defense industry built from scratch. In four years, Ukraine’s defense production capacity has grown more than 50x to over $50 billion. 2,300+ manufacturers. 300,000+ employees. 76% of what the Armed Forces use is now made in Ukraine. Naval drones that pushed the Black Sea Fleet out of the Black Sea. Long-range strikes that have taken roughly a fifth of Russia’s oil refining capacity offline. Interceptors that US allies in the Middle East are already lining up to buy. The inversion is complete. What was recently called “supply from the West to Ukraine” now runs in the opposite direction — Build with Ukraine. Rheinmetall. Quantum Systems. KNDS. Baykar. In April our team received first contracts from German MoD. That is no longer an exception. It is the format. A parade without hardware on Red Square is not a curiosity. It is a visual balance sheet: one side is building an industry, the other is hiding what’s left of one from the cameras. What was supposed to be the West’s lesson from Moscow has become the West’s lesson from Kyiv. And that lesson is now being exported.

Four years ago we begged the world to close the sky over us. The world watched us bury our children instead. Every Shahed we now know how to intercept - we learned on a Ukrainian grave. Today the world asks us to close their sky. We will. For a price. Ours has already been paid. No invoice can match it. united24media.com/business/u…

Hey everyone, I finally landed properly on X — right after my response to Rheinmetall’s СЕО. Perfect timing to introduce myself. I’m Oleksandr Yakovenko, founder of TAF Industries — one of Ukraine’s largest drone manufacturers. In 2022, right after the full-scale invasion, money was never my goal. I founded the charity foundation to deliver critical supplies to over 200 military units. It was pure volunteer work. But charity wasn’t enough. The front needed effective and affordable ways to strike the enemy. So in late 2023 I launched TAF. What started as a wartime volunteer project has grown into industrial-scale production: strike drones, reconns UAVs, EW systems, interceptors and over 30 combat-proven solutions. We run our own R&D center, iterate weekly from real battlefield feedback, and operate a distributed network that survives under missile strikes. The future of warfare is cost-effectiveness. Not the most expensive platform, but the one that delivers maximum effect for minimum cost. The recent Iran conflict proved it again: cheap Shahed drones ($20k–50k) force billion-dollar air defenses to burn through multimillion-dollar interceptors. The math is merciless. We understand the concern of traditional monopolists earning billions on ineffective legacy platforms. Change is uncomfortable — Nokia and Kodak felt the same. Yet while they worry, we’re already moving forward: we’ve established a joint venture in Germany with local partner and are receiving the first orders, turning Ukrainian combat experience into European industrial capacity. I’m here not for profit margins, but to strengthen Ukraine’s defense, bring more soldiers home alive, and share real-war expertise through honest partnerships. Open to connecting with military professionals, defence experts, and serious international partners. Let’s talk — even with those who still believe it’s 1979.

Dear Mr. Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, When you referred to Ukrainian drone manufacturers as “Ukrainian housewives with 3D printers” you revealed just how deeply the European defense establishment still fails to understand the nature of modern warfare. This is not about emotion. It is about battlefield reality. Here are the facts your industry refuses to acknowledge: In 2025 alone, Ukrainian drones carried out 819,737 confirmed strikes. They caused 90 percent of all Russian combat losses, more than all other weapons systems combined. TAF alone produces up to 100к FPV drones monthly. In any given 90-day period, my company’s products alone achieve more confirmed strikes than your entire fleet of equipment has across its full combat history in every conflict. And most importantly, I built this company and achieved these results in two years, not fifty. Think about that. Our drones generate more kinetic effect in three months than your flagship platforms have in half a century. Why? Because the battlefield has changed, and your business model has not. •Russian electronic warfare has made GPS-guided Western munitions such as Excalibur and GMLRS nearly ineffective. •Expensive and complex systems designed for wars with air superiority and traditional peer-to-peer combat have become easy prey for drones costing $500, attacking them from above. •The cost-to-effect ratio has been turned upside down: one 120 mm Rheinmetall shell or one anti-tank missile costs more than a dozen of our drones, and yet our drones still win. This is not a “Lego game.” It is industrial Darwinism in real time. We iterate every week. We print parts in basements and ship 100к strike systems per month, while your engineers still require three to five years and hundreds of millions of euros in certification costs for even a minor upgrade. The war in Ukraine is not a temporary anomaly. It is the first true drone-industrial war. And it has already proven that outdated European platforms, no matter how expensive or “serious” they may seem, are becoming less and less relevant unless they integrate the very technologies you mock. So when you say, “this is not innovation,” I hear something else: “We do not want to admit that the future is being written in Ukrainian workshops, not in Düsseldorf boardrooms.” #MadeByHousewives is trending for a reason. Because these “housewives” destroy more enemy equipment every month than entire European armies do in full campaigns. And they do it while your industry continues to sell 20th-century solutions at 21st prices. The invitation remains open, Mr. Papperger. Stop laughing at the kitchen table. Come and learn how tomorrow’s war is actually being fought. Because the next time someone asks, “Who needs tanks in the age of drones?”, the answer may be simpler than you think: Whoever still believes in 1979 will lose to whoever is building in 2026. With respect, but with facts, Oleksandr Yakovenko “Ukrainian housewives” Founder TAF