Kyiv enlists volunteers with drone skills to fight surging Russian aerial threats

The decision, approved during a government session, launches an experimental project that will run throughout martial law but for no longer than two years.

Under a Defense Ministry initiative, specialized air defense groups will be formed, composed of Territorial Defense Forces personnel and volunteers with flight experience or appropriate qualifications.

According to lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko, the volunteer groups may include DFTG members, individuals exempt from mobilization, and those who have completed training and hold UAV operator certificates.

Volunteer training for these air defense groups will be conducted at national resistance centers.

Volunteers will be authorized to detect, track, and engage enemy aerial targets. They will be allowed to use drones, aircraft, personal firearms, as well as their own vehicles and equipment. Additionally, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command may supply them with military equipment, weapons, and ammunition.

Though the volunteer units will be part of the Territorial Defense Forces, they will be commanded by Ukraine’s Air Force, Honcharenko noted.

In the overnight hours of June 11, Russia launched 85 Shahed drones, various drone decoys, and an Iskander-M ballistic missile at Ukraine. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 49 of these targets.

In his evening address on June 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the aggressor country has been steadily increasing the number of munitions used in its strikes against Ukraine for several months.