Ukraine launched rockets into space twice, from its own territory, during the full-scale invasion and more are on the way, Fedir Venislavskyi, head of the Subcommittee on State Security on the Parliamentary Defense Committee, told RBC-Ukraine in an interview.
The country’s intelligence directorate (GUR) was in charge of the launches during the tenure of former director Kyrylo Budanov — one launch vehicle supposedly reached 100 kilometers and the other one reached 204 kilometers. According to Venislavskyi, these were not experiments, but actual combat missions.
"This is a unique situation for a country engaged in a full-scale war," the MP said. "Ukraine has the technical capability to counter similar enemy attack systems and strike them down in space."
Elsewhere in the interview, the MP noted that Ukraine wants to create its own space force, in part to defend from Russian weapons like the Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile that can carry multiple independent warheads.
These programs aren’t just meant for defense.
"We have missiles that almost nobody knows about, which are able to strike enemy territory at ranges up to 500 kilometers at hypersonic speeds," Venislavskyi added.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Ukraine has been developing dedicated hypersonic weapons, such as hypersonic glide vehicles. “Ordinary” ballistic missiles can reach speeds above Mach 5 (6,100 kilometers per hour), a commonly-defined threshold of where “hypersonic” speed begins.
Rather, Venislavsky’s words hinted that Ukraine’s arsenal is more varied than most people are aware of, though the current scale of these capabilities is still unclear.
The MP also said that GUR successfully launched a carrier rocket from an aircraft flying 8 kilometers in the air and is working on expanding this program.
Airborne launches of this sort reduce how much gravity and atmospheric resistance the vehicle must fight against, increasing how far they can go on a full supply of fuel.
Space missile defense
According to the interview, Ukraine wants to create its own space force for two major reasons, one of which is missile defense. Venislavskyi mentioned the Oreshnik by name.
Russia launched its second Oreshnik attack on Ukraine on 8 January, most likely targeting the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant. It is armed with up to six multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which can carry up to six submunitions.
Evidence suggests that the missile was not equipped with high explosives, instead dealing damage with sheer kinetic impact. However, the Oreshnik's payloads have limited accuracy, with a 50% chance of hitting within 200 meters of their targets, according to missile expert Fabian Hoffmann.
This reduces its utility at destroying targets, unless multiple missiles are used. Problem is, they’re expensive. That gives Russia limited utility per ruble invested. Still, that doesn’t mean the Oreshnik can’t be scary.
If Ukraine wants to be able to shoot down these kinds of weapons, it's too late to react by the time the payloads are hurtling down at Mach 10 onto their targets. The MP said that it's much easier to shoot down such weapons while they're still 100 kilometers above the earth's surface, if Ukraine has sufficient warning of launch.
Independent communications
The other major purpose of Ukraine’s nascent space force program is for communications.
Ukraine relies heavily on Starlink, which is owned by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Starlink has been extremely useful to Ukrainian forces for its reliability and ease of use. Russia also got a lot out of Starlink until the Defense Ministry moved to block them, in cooperation with the company.
Starlink is also hard to jam. The signal is of a higher frequency than ones typically used on the battlefield, making it more difficult to jam. Because the signal travels vertically towards the satellites and back, that only increases jam resistance, compared to waves that travel horizontally.
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However, this reliance comes with risks. Starlink is, after all, a foreign company, whose owner has a fraught relationship with Ukraine.
Musk has cut off Starlink access before, sabotaging an attack on occupied Crimea; mocked Ukraine's stance on national sovereignty; and talked smack about its NATO prospects. His father even visited Moscow to praise Putin and spread propaganda, among other controversies.
The US threatened to cut off Starlink in February 2025 if Ukraine didn’t sign a minerals deal.
Venislavskyi said that if Ukraine has its own satellites “will provide fully secure communications for both the state and military leadership.”
Launching satellites isn't cheap but Kyiv and Moscow are trying
However, it's not so simple. Creating a space program requires massive resources and investments and Ukraine isn't exactly flush with cash, armed forces sources told Euromaidan Press.
After the crackdown, Russia is planning to create its own alternative called Rassvet — “Dawn," spending billions of dollars with a plan to eventually have 900 satellites in orbit by 2035, having launched the first 16 in March.
These plans are reportedly running into delays already. Meanwhile, Starlink has over 10,000 satellites in orbit today.
Ukraine has less money than Russia. Still, Kyiv is trying.
Ukrainian company STETMAN is planning to launch its own UASAT low earth orbit satellite in October, with a goal to eventually create a constellation of 245 units. The goal is to reduce reliance on external companies such as SpaceX.
STETMAN says it's being supported by the Ukrainian government and European partners and has already registered the first satellite with Ukraine's regulatory bodies.
Additionally, Deputy Prime Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky said last month that SpaceX was selected to launch the Sich 2-30 remote sensing satellite into orbit in December.
Urusky said the Sich 2-30 is “practically ready.”
