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Minister of Defense of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov has signed an order appointing Pavlo Yelizarov as Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, responsible for the development of short-range air defense.
He announced this on January 19 on social media.
“Today, no country in the world has the experience in countering air attacks that Ukraine has. Every day and every night — hundreds of enemy drones”, — Mykhailo Fedorov wrote.
In 2025, Russia launched up to 100,000 Shahed drones and other UAV types at Ukraine, damaging dozens of critical infrastructure facilities, hitting hundreds of residential buildings, and causing casualties.
“The number of attacks is increasing — the enemy wants to destroy civilian infrastructure and plunge Ukraine into darkness. The world was not prepared for a war of this type. But we are forced to respond — quickly, systematically, and technologically. That is why, on the President’s instruction, we are changing our approach to protecting the sky”, — the minister emphasized.
According to him, transforming such a system does not happen in a few days, but it must begin today in order to ultimately resolve this issue.
“Pavlo Yelizarov (Lazar) is the new Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He will be responsible for the development of short-range air defense and drone interception. Our task is to build an anti-drone dome over Ukraine — a system that does not react after the fact, but destroys threats while they are still approaching.
This requires people who have already proven their effectiveness in modern warfare. Lazar is one of them. Under his leadership, Lazar’s Group has become one of the most effective units within the Defense Forces. This team has destroyed enemy equipment worth more than $13 billion”, — the statement said.
Mykhailo Fedorov added that every fifth destroyed Russian tank is the result of their work. The unit consistently ranks at the top of the Army of Drones.Bonus rating, destroying 364 artillery systems and 12 MLRS in December alone.
“Now the task is to scale this experience. To build a system that works not in isolated cases, but across the entire country. It is difficult to transform an army when the enemy strikes every day. But we have no choice. We must change approaches, structures, and logic of work so that technologies truly operate on the battlefield and do not remain in presentations.
The result will not come tomorrow, but we are building the system today. The anti-drone dome is not about the future — it is about survival today and Ukraine’s ability to develop even during wartime. Congratulations to Lazar on his appointment”, — the minister noted.
Mykhailo Fedorov stated that he will continue strengthening the team with those who have proven results in war, scaling strong performers and helping new leaders grow. New personnel appointments will follow soon.
