Plakhuta reveals number of enemy targets destroyed by volunteer formations this year

Major General Ihor Plakhuta, Commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“In the first nine months of 2025, the VFTC mobile fire teams have already destroyed 350 targets. Is that a lot or a little? Considering that these groups are made up of civilian volunteers, I believe their effectiveness is quite high,” Plakhuta noted.

According to him, the formation of VFTC air defense units is now underway. These groups will be equipped with interceptor drones.

“Personnel selection, training, and procurement of these drones are already in progress,” he added.

In addition, the commander highlighted the strong performance of so-called “small” or light aircraft units.

“Although these units were only formed in June and began carrying out combat missions in early July, they have already managed to destroy more than 70 aerial targets. This result demonstrates the high efficiency of such air defense groups,” Plakhuta emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on the night of October 4, Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck several key targets inside Russia and in the temporarily occupied part of the Donetsk region.

Photo: Roman Malko