Kosmicni Syly: VR creates legislative groundwork for a new branch of the Armed Forces

The Verkhovna Rada (VR) adopted in principle (at first reading) a draft law that provides for the creation of the Space Forces — a new branch of the Armed Forces (AF) of Ukraine.

KV learned this during a plenary session of the VR on 9 November 2026.

Draft Law No. 13255 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Armed Forces of Ukraine’ regarding clarification of the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” (first author – Fedir Venislavskyi, Servant of the People) was supported by 252 members of parliament.

“Make the following changes to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Armed Forces of Ukraine’ (Bulletin of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 1992, No. 9, art. 108) as follows: the fourth paragraph of part one of Article 3 shall read as follows:

‘types of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Ground Forces, Air Forces, Naval Forces, Space Forces;’”, the draft law states.

The authors of the draft law believe that the creation of Space Forces is technically feasible, given Ukraine’s strong scientific-engineering and industrial potential in this area: “Ukraine has the capability to develop its own satellites for the needs of the security and defense sector.”

As stated in the Explanatory Note to the draft law, “Ukraine has a developed ground infrastructure that provides the capabilities for independent and autonomous control of its own space vehicles.”

MPs also recall that “An important step toward the formation of the Space Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine’s decision to establish within it a separate structural unit — the Space Policy Department.”

It is also noted separately that the provisions of the draft law are supported by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, “which he stated on 16 April 2025 (! – KV) during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence” (the chair of the mentioned parliamentary committee is Oleksandr Zavitnevych, Servant of the People; he is not a co-author of this legislative initiative).