Ukraine establishes its own force for unmanned weapons

President Zelensky announced the establishment of a new force specializing in controlling unmanned vehicles, aiming to catch up with Russia in this field.

"I have just signed a decree to initiate the creation of a separate branch of our military, the drone force," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said in a speech on the evening of February 6.

Drones are devices such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned boats (USVs), or unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), controlled from vehicles to perform reconnaissance missions, air strikes, and launch suicide attacks on enemy targets.

According to Mr. Zelensky, drones have proven their effectiveness on the battlefield, both at sea, in the air and on land. He stressed that the establishment of a separate drone force must bring "concrete results" in a short time, because 2024 is a "decisive" year in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in many aspects.

"The immediate task is to create special drone units, strengthen training, learn from past experience, expand production, come up with new ideas and invite leading experts to participate in this process," President Zelensky said.

According to the Ukrainian President's office, Kiev's goal in creating the drone force is to "increase capabilities in using autonomous and robotic systems on the ground, in the air and at sea." Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said the force would give a "strong impetus" to technological development for the Ukrainian military.

A member of the 28th Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine holds an FPV UAV in this photo posted on February 6. Photo: Ukrainian Army — A member of the 28th Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine holds an FPV UAV in this photo posted on February 6. Photo: *Ukrainian Army*

President Zelensky said the military, the Defense Ministry and the Ukrainian government would work together to draw up a detailed plan for the formation of the force, before submitting a formal proposal to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the country's policy-making body.

Drones, especially first-person aerial vehicles (FPVs), are currently the main weapon in the conflict in Ukraine, used frequently by both sides on the front lines thanks to their high combat effectiveness, low cost and ease of production.

Mr Federov said last year that UAVs had “fundamentally changed the battlefield situation”, allowing Ukrainian forces to effectively deter enemy attacks and support their counterattacks. Ukrainian military chief Valery Zaluzhny said last week that UAVs and other unmanned vehicles had a “very important” role in the conflict.

However, Ukraine is said to be losing ground to Russia in this area. Yury Fedorenko, commander of the Achilles Company of the 92nd Assault Brigade of Ukraine, admitted last December that Moscow possesses 5-7 times more UAVs than Kiev in key areas on the front line.

Ukraine has recently increased production to catch up with Russia in terms of UAV numbers. Mr. Fedorov said on January 9 that about 200 Ukrainian companies are involved in manufacturing UAVs, of which more than 70 have signed contracts to supply this equipment to the government.

President Zelensky last year announced Ukraine's goal of producing one million explosive-carrying FPVs, along with more than 11,000 medium- and long-range suicide UAVs by 2024.