Zelensky On The Creation Of A Small Counter-drone Air Defense System: The Structure And Tasks Have Already Been Agreed Upon

• 30.01.2026, 22:02

It should improve the defense of Kherson, Nikopol, and the border communities of Sumshchina.

A command will be created in the structure of the Air Force of the AFU, which will be responsible for the development of small-scale antimissile air defense. Its structure and new approaches to management have already been agreed upon, President Vladimir Zelensky said on January 30.

"An important meeting for the development of small counter-drone air defense. Significantly strengthen this component in the Air Force of the AFU. I defined key tasks for the Air Force and Defense Ministry team," the head of state said.

He said that the updated task is to strengthen protection against Russian drones in Kherson, Nikopol, as well as border communities of Sumshchina, where "the Russians have arranged a virtually constant safari against people."

"Every day - their strikes on residential houses, conventional infrastructure, civilian transport. We need more defense and our response," the president said.

He added that the second task is to scale up our counteraction to Shaheds and other Russian attack drones.

"There will be more borders, more lines of defense. The third is to spread the experience of successful units in the Ukrainian Defense Forces, so that every solution that worked for one unit can be successfully used by other Ukrainian units as well," Zelensky said.