In December last year, Zelensky promised that Ukraine would produce 1 million drones by 2024.
Kyiv:
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday ordered the creation of a separate branch in Ukraine’s armed forces dedicated to drones, a weapon he and military officials say is vital to the war against Russia.
Zelensky signed a decree calling on the government and the General Staff of the Armed Forces to “address the issue of creating an independent unit of unmanned aerial systems within the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
“I have just signed a decree that will create an independent branch within our armed forces – the Unmanned Aerial Systems Force,” Zelensky said in a nightly video address.
“This is not a question of the future. Rather, it must deliver concrete results in the near future. This year must be decisive in many ways. And obviously on the battlefield. Unmanned aerial systems are already on land, in the sky and at sea.”
Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhailo Fedorov said that this independent department will provide a “powerful impetus” for the military’s technological development.
Over the past year, he said, drones have “fundamentally changed the battlefield situation. They have effectively deterred Russian attacks and supported Ukrainian armed forces’ counterattacks.”
According to Zelensky’s decree, the results of the study will be submitted to the decision-making National Security and Defense Council.
Zelensky pointed to drones and their production domestically and with partner countries as key elements in waging war against Russia since Moscow’s invasion two years ago this month.
In December, the president pledged that Ukraine would produce 1 million drones by 2024.
Government officials have said Ukraine aims to produce tens of thousands of drones per month. There is no data on current production, but drone production has surged since the war began, with dozens of companies developing and producing different models.
The position of Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has been questioned due to differences with the president. He said in an interview with CNN last week that drones are crucial to the conduct of the war.
“Crucially, it is these unmanned systems, such as drones, as well as other types of advanced weapons, that provide Ukraine with the best way to avoid falling into positional warfare, where we It has no advantage in battle.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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