Ukraine to Develop Satellites With Partner Countries Starting in 2026

Starting from 2026, Ukraine will develop satellites for defense purposes in collaboration with partner countries.

In her column ‘Why Does Ukraine Need Military Space? Answering the 5 Most Common Questions‘ on Militarnyi, this was explained by Kateryna Chornohorenko, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation, and Digitalization.

Such a timeline is outlined in the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine’s roadmap for space.

The Ministry of Defence’s roadmap spans a 10-year period.

For 2025–2026, the Space Policy Department will take three steps:

– Audit of space infrastructure;
– Identification and analysis of critical needs;
– Development of strategic documents that will define the sector’s development direction.

Starting from 2026, Ukraine is expected to develop satellites in collaboration with partner countries. At the same time, the creation of a space situational awareness system and its integration into defense technologies are also planned.

The final step, from 2030 to 2035, is to create a cohesive space defense segment, specifically a satellite constellation, which will provide real-time analytics and be part of global security projects.

At the end of March 2025, it became known that the Ministry of Defenсe had created the Space Policy Department.

“It will bring together all the stakeholders involved in space affairs in one place and unite their efforts. This includes space enterprises, international partners, commercial companies, the scientific community, and, of course, the defense forces,” said Kateryna Chornohorenko, explaining the department’s objectives.

The department will work in three areas:

– Legislation.
– Technological expertise.
– Coordination of spacial support.

As a reminder, in October 2022, the governments of the Czech Republic and Ukraine reached a political agreement on the creation of a defense cluster, within which a project was initiated for Czech-Ukrainian cooperation to develop satellites necessary for both countries.

A key component of Suziria satellite constellation will be Drak satellite, which is being developed specifically for the Armed Forces of Ukraine by the companies within the Czech space cluster Brno Space Cluster, in collaboration with Ukrainian specialists. The main integrator of the project is the Czech company TRL Space.