“Ukraine set a precedent that has not been seen since the creation of airplanes and air forces.” Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi said this in June 2024, at the public presentation of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.
The branch itself was older than the ceremony. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the decree creating it on February 6, and the Ukrinform news agency reported that the Defense Minister’s order naming Sukharevskyi commander followed on June 10. The Kyiv Independent covered the formal unveiling a day later, four months after the decree.
One branch, three domains
Military officials told the Kyiv Independent that no other armed force has a branch that combines air, naval surface and underwater, and ground-based unmanned systems under one roof. Before it existed, drone work was spread across the Ground Forces, the National Guard and the Security Service.
Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Havryliuk said the capability could reach targets 1,000 miles away, the Ural region of Russia among them. The force chose an AI-generated swallow robot as its emblem, which officials described as “one of the most revered symbols in Ukrainian culture, associated with the news about victory.”
Output targets
Production was the other half of the announcement. Officials said Ukraine had passed 1 million drones built, with capacity for 150,000 a month across more than 200 domestic enterprises. The goal is 1-2 million units a year.
A short first chapter for its founding commander
Sukharevskyi did not stay long. The Kyiv Independent reported that he was dismissed on June 3, 2025, after friction with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi that reportedly dated to the start of his tenure. Major Robert Brovdi, callsign Magyar and previously head of the Magyar’s Birds Unmanned Systems Brigade, took over in early June. Weeks later the branch merged its units with the Drone Line, a project Zelensky had launched in February to coordinate five of the country’s strongest drone units, under Brovdi’s command.
Sources
- 'We set a precedent.' Ukraine officially presents Unmanned Systems Forces (Kyiv Independent)
- Vadym Sukharevskyi appointed commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (Ukrinform)
- Ukraine unites Unmanned Systems Forces with top 'Drone Line' units under new command group (Kyiv Independent)
