Facing Russian aggression and its deadly waves of drones, including Shahed drones, Kiev now turns to companies that find a common interest in strengthening the country’s air defense.
A drone Shahed 136, displayed at a Russian material exhibition destroyed in Kiev in December 2025 (AFP / SERGEI SUPINSKY)
Companies equipped with machine guns: facing hundreds of Russian drones launched daily at Ukraine, Kiev has opened its air defense to private companies to ensure their own security, relieving the army, said a senior Ukrainian military official in an interview with AFP.
“The idea is to allow companies (…) to protect themselves against aerial attacks at their own expense and with the help of their own employees,” explains Yuri Myronenko, 48, a general inspector at the Ministry of Defense and the main initiator of this project.
Since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has heavily used long-range Shahed drones, of Iranian design but now mass-produced in Russia. Inexpensive but devastating, these devices target residential areas and vital infrastructure, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the front line. The largest attack since 2022 took place at the end of March, involving, in addition to missiles, nearly 1,000 drones launched in 24 hours.
While the Ukrainian air defense system, which includes thousands of mobile anti-drone teams, is quite effective, it is not sufficient to cover the entire country. Hence the idea of the Ministry of Defense: bolstering the army with private actors – energy companies, frequently targeted by Russian strikes, logistics or security groups. To date, 16 companies have already obtained the necessary authorizations, and “several” of them have already started operating, according to Lieutenant Colonel Myronenko, himself a former commander of a drone unit.
Interceptors
“We are the first in the world to have set up a system” allowing private actors to “shoot down very difficult aerial targets,” assures the official. “The first interceptions took place two weeks ago,” he said.
In the Kharkiv region (northeast), located near the front line, a company, whose name was not disclosed, shot down several Russian drones using heavy machine guns mounted on telescopic turrets. After the Ministry of Defense issued a statement on the matter, “dozens” of other groups have contacted the authorities for information, Mr. Myronenko assures.
“We do not hope that private air defense will solve all our problems,” he concedes, but “shooting down one, two, or five Shaheds is already a help.”
Interested companies must undergo special checks, including to exclude any affiliation with Russia before being able to purchase weapons and train their employees. Integration with the air force coordination is crucial in this sophisticated system that manages thousands of anti-aircraft teams in real-time. A specialized software allows monitoring of how and where teams work, who shot down what, and what new target appears, as described by Yuri Myronenko. For him, drone interceptors – devices meant to shoot them down mid-air – are the future of this private air defense. Under the pressure of constant attacks, Ukraine has already developed around fifty interceptor models, a field that did not exist just a year ago.
“Shooting down 95% of targets”
Fierce competition pushes manufacturers to quickly improve efficiency while reducing costs, sometimes less than $1,000 per unit, making them “affordable,” Mr. Myronenko estimates. Eventually, private groups could even obtain weapons allowing them to shoot down cruise missiles, such as portable surface-to-air systems frequently used by Russia against Ukraine. “We do not limit the defense means they can purchase” to ensure maximum flexibility in a war that changes “every three or six months,” emphasizes the official.
The goal is to achieve the main objective set by the new Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov for this year: “detecting 100% of aerial targets,” drones and missiles included, and “shooting down 95%” compared to around 80% currently. A project that is “absolutely realistic,” according to Yuri Myronenko, given the explosion in production of interceptors delivered by “tens of thousands” to the army each month. “We must clearly show (to Russia) that terrorizing our population, our civilian infrastructure, will not help them at all.”
