In brief

• Ukraine's parliament approved in first reading a bill to create Space Forces as a branch of the Armed Forces.
• The vote was 252 deputies in favour; the bill is numbered 13255.
• The plan includes an early-warning system for missile launches and a national secure satellite communications network for defence.

Parliament backs the bill in first reading

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on November 9 voted to adopt as a basis bill No. 13255, which would create Space Forces as a separate branch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (В Україні створять Космічні сили у складі ЗСУ – ВР проголосувала перше читання – Українська правда). The vote was 252 deputies in favour (В Україні з’являться Космічні сили ЗСУ: Рада ухвалила закон – TSN) (Верховна Рада підтримала створення Космічних сил у складі ЗСУ – UNIAN). The bill was registered in parliament in May 2025, and one of its authors is MP Fedir Venislavskyi.

What the bill would do

The legislation is aimed at developing space technologies to strengthen the country's defence capability. Among its goals are an independent early-warning system for launches of hostile missiles and the development of means to counter such attacks (В Україні створюють Космічні сили ЗСУ: Рада підтримала законопроєкт у 1 читанні – Espreso). It also provides for a national system of secure satellite communications for the security and defence sector.

An explanatory note attached to the bill says the new branch would give Ukraine the organisational, institutional and military-technical capacity to counter aggression from outer space, whether from Russia or any other potential aggressor. The amendments would add "Space Forces" to the list of branches of the Armed Forces in the law on those forces.

Background and rationale

Venislavskyi has argued for an independent Ukrainian constellation of reconnaissance satellites and a separate satellite communications network, to reduce dependence on partner countries' systems. He has also linked the new force to the need to counter missile systems such as Russia's Oreshnik, whose flight path partly passes beyond the atmosphere.

The bill has so far passed only its first reading. Further readings are required before it can become law.