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The Ministry of Defence has announced a new model for conducting the war in Ukraine

The Ministry of Defence has announced a new model for conducting the war in Ukraine

Katerina Melnychenko Deputy Editor-in-Chief

16 April 2026, 10:45

The Ministry of Defence has announced a new model for conducting the war in Ukraine — Ukraine is developing drone-based assault units for a new model of warfare / photo: t.me/osirskiy

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence has announced the introduction of a new model of warfare – drone-assault units that integrate aerial and ground-based drones with infantry into a single system. The ministry claims that this approach has already yielded results in the south.

This was reported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence and Reuters.

The Ministry of Defence stated that the new model envisages the integration of drone warfare with infantry operations within a single combat system. The statement specifically refers to drone-assault units, which are intended to combine aerial and ground drones with infantry.

The ministry also claims that this approach has already yielded results in southern Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Defence, significant territories there have been liberated since February precisely thanks to the deployment of these units.

Reuters notes that this refers to a statement by the Ministry of Defence, rather than the agency’s own verified assessment of this model’s effectiveness. At the same time, the agency recalls that on 15 April, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that in March, Ukrainian forces had regained control of nearly 50 square kilometres of territory, continuing the advance that began at the start of the year.

Against the backdrop of these statements, the Ukrainian command had previously also emphasised the role of unmanned systems in modern warfare. In particular, Syrskyi publicly stated that unmanned systems units have, for several months running, been inflicting greater losses in manpower on Russia than it can compensate for through mobilisation.

Thus, the Ministry of Defence has effectively announced its commitment to a new tactical model in which drones and infantry operate as a single mechanism. It is this model that Kyiv views as one of the tools for exerting further pressure on Russian forces.

As reported by ThePublic, at the 34th meeting of the Contact Group on Defence Issues of Ukraine in the ‘Ramstein’ format, Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that Russian losses have already outpaced mobilisation rates. According to him, Russia is currently losing 254 soldiers per square kilometre, and in the Donetsk region this figure averages 428.

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