The announced political disengagement of the U.S. from Europe and Ukraine in early 2025 has added urgency to the ongoing discussion about European strategic autonomy and European support to Ukraine. In this context, understanding how European defense can be strengthened through cooperation with Ukraine, and what value Ukraine’s private deftech sector can bring to its European counterparts is decisive to deepen the defense industrial capabilities of both.

This report is based on two workshops conducted with Ukrainian and European companies, government and civil society experts, held in Brussels in November 2024 by Eastern Circles, IRSEM Europe, and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, and in Paris in early March 2025, organized by Eastern Circles. The workshops had as their main objective to identify the barriers of integrating Ukraine into the European military-industrial sector through interactive exchange among industry, government, and civil society actors, and to find ways to overcome them.

The report is structured in 3 parts. Part one seeks to draw the contours Ukraine’s deftech ecosystem, consisting of state, business and civil society actors. It explains how the war has upended the defense industrial landscape in Ukraine, allowing numerous private companies to emerge, which drive the renaissance of the industry today. It points out the role of key state, business and of the civil society actors. Part two identifies key barriers to cooperation, from cultural barriers, to the lack of horizontal ties and earlier cooperation, to export controls and divergence of norms and standards. Part three outlines cooperation enablers and provides practical recommendations for state and business actors. The conclusion summarizes the French, German and Ukrainian perspectives based on these exchanges.