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Ukraine’s Nova Poshta has implemented a private air defense project and has successfully shot down Russian attack drones, Viacheslav Klymov, co-owner of the Nova group of companies, said.
Number of drones downed remains undisclosed
Klymov said Nova Poshta is among the few companies to have implemented such a project.
“We are one of the few companies that have implemented this project. I don’t want to disclose the numbers, but we have shot down Shahed drones,” he said.
He stressed the importance of further developing private air defense initiatives, arguing that businesses can take on responsibilities that were considered exclusively the state’s domain before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
In-house firefighting teams
Klymov also said businesses could establish their own firefighting services at industrial facilities. At Nova Poshta, employees handle a significant share of fires caused by Russian attacks themselves rather than waiting for emergency services to arrive, he said.
Major companies are now searching for fire engines in Europe to establish their own firefighting units, Klymov added.
“It is our property. What is the problem? Who can stop me from putting out a fire myself on my own premises?” he said.
Private air defense remains the exception rather than the rule in Ukraine. A representative of the Wild Hornets organization told RBC-Ukraine that the state had issued a considerable number of permits for private air defense units, but only a few successful cases were publicly known.
According to the representative, these are mostly large state-owned and private corporations with the financial resources to invest in such capabilities.
Wild Hornets stressed that private air defense cannot operate independently of the national system: the locations of its positions must be coordinated with military command.
The representative said an ideal private air defense system that businesses could establish today would combine interceptor drones, turrets and electronic warfare equipment. Interceptions should take place 30–50 kilometers from the target, the representative said.
The organization’s Night Hornets unit has downed more than 60 targets, according to the representative.
