The head of the subcommittee on state security, defense and defense innovations, Fedir Venislavsky, stated that Ukraine conducted at least two successful launches of rocket carriers into space during a full-scale war.
The head of the subcommittee on state security, defense and defense innovations, Fedir Venislavsky, stated that Ukraine conducted at least two successful launches of rocket carriers into space during a full-scale war.
This was told by Fedor Venislavsky in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. According to him, the first launch allowed the launch vehicle to reach an altitude of over 100 km, and the second to 204 km. He claims that both missions were carried out during the Great War and were not purely experimental: these were real launches that had practical significance for defense. The MP also said that Ukraine has already tested the technology of the so-called air cosmodrome, namely the launch of a launch vehicle from an airplane at an altitude of about 8,000 meters. According to him, such a format can increase the efficiency of launching a payload into low-Earth orbit and open up additional opportunities for special tasks.
Venislavsky’s statements suggest that these developments are being considered not only in the context of satellite communications or intelligence. He linked the development of Ukrainian space capabilities with potential counteraction to ballistic systems of the Oreshnik type. The logic is to intercept such a target before the warheads are separated, when the missile still remains a single object. That is why, according to him, Ukraine needs technologies capable of operating at altitudes of over 100 km.
The topic of the space component in defense is not new for Ukraine, but now it is increasingly being transferred from the level of concepts to the practical plane. Back in May 2025, the Verkhovna Radaregistered draft law No. 13255 on clarifying the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and on February 10, 2026 it was included in the agenda. Separately, at the end of March 2025, the Ministry of Defense announced the creation of the Space Policy Department, which is to collect a regulatory and technological basis for the development of military space. Venislavsky himself estimates the full deployment of such capabilities in three to five years.
Earlier, People’s Deputy, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Fedir Venislavsky, reported that the Space Forces of Ukraine may receive ownership of satellites by the end of 2025.
