Kyiv enlists volunteers with drone skills to fight surging Russian aerial threats
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved the involvement
of members from paramilitary and volunteer territorial defense formations
(DFTG) to bolster the country’s air defense, government representative to
parliament Taras Melnychuk announced
on June 11.
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.
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