Zelensky signs decrees to create long-range strike command, Joint Rapid Response Forces

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he had signed decrees to create a new long-range strike command and new Joint Rapid Response Forces within Ukraine’s armed forces, and that he had designated Brig. Gen. Dmytro Voloshyn to lead the rapid-response formation. In a post on his official Telegram channel on July 10, Zelensky wrote: “Сьогодні я підписав указ про створення у складі Збройних Сил спеціального командування – командування далекобійного, фактично – глобального впливу на Росію за цю війну.” He also said: “Сьогодні я підписав указ про створення Обʼєднаних сил швидкого реагування.”

If carried out as Zelensky described, the move would mark a notable wartime reorganization of Ukraine’s military command structure, bringing added focus to long-range strike capabilities while also creating a new formation for fast-moving frontline operations. Ukraine has expanded its long-range strike and drone capacity during the war, and a dedicated command would suggest an effort to concentrate those capabilities under one structure.

Zelensky said the new long-range command should focus all available resources on further reducing Russia’s war potential. In the same Telegram post, he described the Joint Rapid Response Forces as a new component of the military designed to combine assault capability, drone and other unmanned aerial vehicle capability, artillery and other assets needed for rapid response at the front.

He also said there would be a transformation of the assault troops, signaling broader changes beyond the creation of the new rapid-response force. Zelensky said there were “many questions” and problems to resolve, “first of all in attitudes to people,” and said law-enforcement bodies were taking procedural steps. He added that there would be management changes in the assault troops, but did not provide further detail in the post.

For the new Joint Rapid Response Forces, Zelensky said he had selected Voloshyn, a senior officer from Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces, which are central to offensive and rapid-response operations. Zelensky wrote: “Я сьогодні говорив з Героєм України Дмитром Волошиним і визначив його для виконання цього завдання. Бригадний генерал Волошин, командир 8‑го корпусу ДШВ...” Voloshyn is independently identifiable as the commander of the 8th Corps of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces, known by its Ukrainian abbreviation DShV, and as a Hero of Ukraine. Ukrainian media reported in late June that he had recently been promoted to brigadier general.

As of a check Friday, however, the formal decree texts creating the long-range command and the Joint Rapid Response Forces were not yet visible on the official presidential website. That means the announcement, the broad mission statements and Voloshyn’s designation were attributable to Zelensky’s Telegram post, while the legal wording, implementation timeline and fuller organizational details of the new structures were not yet publicly available.