Vladyslav Berehovyi, Head of Program at Defence Builder, delivered a keynote on working with the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the opening of Flaming Shield '26: Defend the Sky in Kaunas, the defence technology hackathon organised by the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union and Tech-Park Kaunas. He spoke about how defence technology is tested and validated in Ukraine today and what this means for teams developing products for the front.
In his keynote "Battle-Tested Is Not a Badge", Vladyslav Berehovyi argued that validation in Ukraine has an expiry date, since the adversary needs less than three months to counter a new system on the front.
He described four groups that validate a defence technology team, each giving it something different. The state, through the MoD test institute, codification and admission to operation, gives the right to be bought. Testing platforms such as Brave1 Test give access to ranges and units. Buyers, including brigade-level procurement, give orders. Combat units show how the product actually performs. In 2026, the sequence runs from combat testing to codification and then to handover to the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Procurement Agency.
Vladyslav Berehovyi also noted that units themselves bought 70% of the UGV platforms in use, while state procurement covered at most 30%. This makes the commander who selects a system the team's first validator. He drew attention to intellectual property as well: under Law 4585-IX, economic rights to what servicemembers create on duty belong to the state. Teams should therefore document their background IP before testing and keep unit feedback separate from co-development.
After the keynote, Vladyslav Berehovyi joined the panel "Battlefield Stories – Lessons from Ukraine / Innovate or Die" with Colonel Linas Idzelis, Commander of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, Brigadier General Žilvinas Gaubys, Commander of the Training and Doctrine Board of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Žilvinas Kvedaravičius (UDS) and Andriy Bandrovskyy (RendRock). The session was moderated by Viktorija Trimbel of Coinvest Capital.
During the same opening ceremony, Defence Builder and Tech-Park Kaunas signed a memorandum of cooperation.
Flaming Shield is a 72-hour defence technology hackathon organised by the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union and Tech-Park Kaunas. This year's edition focused on airspace security.
About Defence Builder
Defence Builder is a Ukrainian defence tech ecosystem co-founded by Sigma Software Group, Kyiv School of Economics and Buntar Aerospace. It works through DB Accelerator, DB Fund and DB Capabilities, and its portfolio includes more than 30 teams.
