- Kyiv’s international business community has volunteered to bolster local air defence units
- Started in summer 2025; recruits include people from the UK, US, Canada and other European countries, trained on-site
- Elsewhere, Ukraine states “private air defence initiative” providing coverage in Kharkiv region
Ukraine’s need for air defence systems is nothing new as the country maintains its dogged defence against Russian forces more than four years after the large-scale invasion in 2022.
However, recent initiatives in harnessing other, non-Ukrainian resources, indicate a potential shift in approach, enabling the bolstering of Ukraine’s in-demand air defence network.
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Army Technology has been in conversation with members of a new air defence force that helps to protect Kyiv. Only, it’s not staffed by Ukrainian nationals, rather, it seeks to utilise volunteers from the capital’s international business community.
The genesis of the new force began in the summer of 2025 and since then negotiated Ukraine’s governmental and military structures. Recruitment criteria includes having a temporary residence permit for five years, or if fewer, then prior service as a Ukraine war veteran.
To date, volunteers from the UK, North America, and at least seven other European countries have joined up, with organisers maintaining aspirations are that more will follow.
While previous military service is not vital, it is likely that some of the volunteers will have had prior experience in their respective national armed forces.
Volunteers provide rotating air defence coverage, all contributing to local area air defence. Training is provided on-site by experienced air defence personnel.
Notably, the volunteers are unpaid and part-time, and rather than forming a new unit as in the guise of an International Legion-esque formation, they serve to boost exiting local air defence forces.
It appears that two such projects have been created, one serving the Territorial Defence Force of Ukraine (TDF), with the other being under the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU).
Exact figures on the numbers of Kyiv’s international business community to have signed up to serve in either the NGU or TDF structures have not been disclosed.
Videos seen by Army Technology purport to show a Kyiv-based air defence unit, potentially including international volunteers, engaging and destroying a Shahed-type drone.
The timing of the video is not known, although much of Ukraine was under air defence warnings on 16 April as Russia launched hundreds of drones at key Ukrainian cities. Such attacks happen regularly, as Moscow seeks to degrade civilian and critical infrastructure.
Air defence: Ukraine utilising “private initiative”
Meanwhile, Ukraine also appears to be turning to an apparent private sector source to provide additional air defence capability.
In a 17 April post on social media, Ukraine Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov revealed the use of a “private air defence initiative”, citing a team in the Kharkiv region successfully intercepting a Shahed/Geran drone, including the first confirmed downing of a jet-powered variant.
According to Fedorov, the Shahed drone was travelling at speeds “exceeding 400km/h”, which market a “new level of complexity” in being far more difficult to intercept than the conventional propellor-driven platform.
“Following the President’s [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] directive, we are systematically building a layered air defence system and strengthening protection of the skies. One element of this system is private groups that reinforce the protection of critical infrastructure,” Fedorov stated.
“The goal of the initiative is to rapidly scale capabilities without placing additional strain on frontline combat units. Private air defence groups are currently being formed at 19 enterprises.”
The private air defence providers are integrated into the military command-and-control structures, operating as part of the wider national air defence network. The next step, stated Federov, was to “scale the project”.
Ukraine-Russia war: combat from 18-19 April
According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), over the weekend of 18-19 April Russian forces had conducted four platoon-sized or smaller mechanised assaults across the frontline.
The ISW stated that geolocated footage indicated that two Russian assaults took place east of Chasiv Yar (northeast of Kostyantynivka), one east of Svyatopetrivka (northwest of Hulyaipole), and a roughly platoon-sized mechanized assault near Kucherov, Kursk Oblast (southeast of Glushkovo).
Combat operations continue across the frontline, as Russia stages phases of its Spring-Summer offensive aimed at breaking through the so-called Fortress Belt of cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, which serves as the main defensive line in the Donbas region.
