Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, more and more Ukrainian inventors are putting their creativity at the service of the army.
Igor Yiefimenko is an entrepreneur from the Kharkiv region. A year ago, one of his friends stepped on a landmine: his leg was torn off. That’s when Igor decided to create protective boots for mine clearance workers. They are a kind of après-ski, with four plastic rods protruding in front and behind.
“The purpose of these bootsdetails their inventor, is that the mine does not explode underfoot but a little to the side. We therefore fixed four legs under the sole. And if the mine is hit by these legs, the energy produced by the explosion rises upwards and does not destroy the mine clearer’s leg. There is still the blast of the explosion which can propel him backwards but his leg is intact.
Igor is not the only one racking his brains for his country. Recently, Ukrainian inventors have designed heated bulletproof vests, hammocks that transform into stretchers, or even trailers that become bathtubs for washing on the forehead.
“When I went before the Ministry of Defense commission to approve my boots, I came across a lot of inventors in very different fields. It’s nice to see that we’re not alone. This trend is very important at the moment in Ukraine.”
Igor Yiefimenkoat franceinfo
Most of these inventions were developed by DIY enthusiasts. But there are also many engineers mobilized, like Vadim Chumakov, the director of the Safari Defense company, specializing in the manufacture of military equipment.
For several months, its teams have focused on devices allowing Ukrainian soldiers to avoid being spotted by Russian soldiers: “We have a stealth technology department in which we have just created equipment that makes men or objects undetectable by radars and thermal cameras. We have also made good progress in the design of so-called silent cannons. They make it possible to increase the range and accuracy of fire and suppress what the enemy can spot such as flames at the exit of the barrel, noise and recoil.”
Vadim Chumakov recently developed a cape that allows soldiers who wear it to avoid being spotted, at night, by Russian drones equipped with a thermal camera. The Ukrainian minister in charge of innovation, Mykhailo Fedorov, welcomed this in a post on X.
In Ukraine, the war is long-term. Military aid from Western allies may eventually dry up, so kyiv is also banking on its inventors to defeat the Russian enemy.