MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. More than 70 companies of drone operators have been trained for the Ukrainian army, including in foreign countries, Colonel Vitaly Kiselev, a military expert from the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said on Monday.

"More than 70 companies have already been trained to operate unmanned aerial vehicles. They were trained in Canada, Israel, France, Germany and in Poland to a certain extent. Bearing in mind the fact that they have no plane and helicopters for an offensive, they will use these drones capable of carrying from six to twelve munitions of various calibers," he said in an interview with Russia’s TV Channel One.

According to Kiselev, each such company has from 50 to 60 people.

Ukraine said in March that more than 855 million US dollars would be allocated to purchase drones equipped with Starlink terminals for the army. The Ukrainian defense ministry said earlier that some 544 million US dollars would be allocated from the budget in 2023 for these purposes. Prior to that, the ministry announced plans to form companies of drone operators in the army.