A sleeping Europe awakens

Issue 14: A guest post by Anton Verkhovodov on what we must learn from Ukraine, demining Ukraine, and introducing our new writer, John Biggs

Leslie Hitchcock

Mar 11, 2025

white red and green map — Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

Good afternoon from the team at Resilience Media

As Europe finds its footing following the sudden changes in US foreign policy, a flood of money has been committed to the defence sector. We’re tracking funding announcements both from government defence budgets and startups very closely in the On Our Radar section below.
We recently sat down with Andriy Dovbenko, founder of UK-Ukraine TechExchange, to talk about their recent white paper on demining Ukraine. Read more about the white paper, which has even more relevance as the Trump administration vies for Ukraine’s critical minerals, many of which are in areas heavily affected by landmines.
We are excited to welcome our newest team member, John Biggs. We founded Resilience Media to focus on startups in the global conversation about defence, security, and resilience. The startup community will be familiar with John after his long career writing for TechCrunch, Gizmodo, and The New York Times. Based in New York, John joins us to write about startups in the defence and security space, and to cover more of North America. You can read his first piece about Huless here.
You can contact John with news and pitches at john@resiliencemedia.co.
Speaking of startups and investment, we are raising a small round to support the growth of Resilience Media. We’re bringing together an exciting group of investors who are aligned with our mission and share our passion for this topic. We look forward to writing more about this after we close the first investors. If you are interested to join the cap table, please get in touch.

-Leslie, co-founder, Resilience Media

Ukraine has proven that private initiative is not just an asset but a necessity in modern warfare. Europe has to leverage it.

When Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the country’s defence establishment was rigid and dismissive of anything novel. Recognising this as an existential threat, volunteers started bringing drones and software apps to help their friends fight. These were ordinary people—engineers, coders, tinkerers.

At first, the military establishment dismissed their efforts as amateurish. But when these “toys” started delivering real results—improving targeting, surveillance, and coordination—adoption spread. Volunteers started to unite in organisations like Aerorozvidka and Victory Drones, and their voice grew stronger. Read Anton’s full piece here.

Kyiv International Cyber Resilience Forum 2025: Will you be there? Our Ukrainian correspondent Oleksandr Ihnatenko will be on site and available for meetings. We want to hear about your startup.

Technology and National Security Conference, co-hosted by MIT Sloan and Harvard Business School: This year’s theme, “Adapting in a New Era of National Security,” underscores the urgency of responding to rapid geopolitical shifts and technological advancements. From the conflict in Ukraine to rising tensions in the Middle East and China’s growing influence, the global security landscape demands adaptation across battlefields, the defence industrial base, and public and private sectors. Progress has been made, but much work remains. Together, we must rise to the challenge. Ticket link: https://lnkd.in/e8tA_t73

Resilience Conference 2025: Coming back to London on September 29-30, we have a limited number of early bird tickets for sale at the link below. If you want to sponsor the event, please get in touch with our team.

Buy Early Bird Tickets Here