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Military of Ukraine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Armed Forces of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Збройні сили України (ЗСУ) Zbroyni Syly Ukrayiny, (ZSU)) were formed from portions of the military of the collapsing Soviet Union, in the early 1990s.
Ukraine's stated national policy is Euro-Atlantic integration, with both NATO and the European Union. Ukraine has a "Distinctive Partnership" with NATO and has been an active participant in Partnership for Peace exercises and in peacekeeping in the Balkans. This close relationship with NATO has been most apparent in Ukrainian cooperation and combined peacekeeping operations with its neighbor Poland, in places such as Kosovo and Iraq. However, the continuing relationship with Russia complicates these linkages.
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As the Soviet Union dissolved in 1990 and 1991, 780,000 Soviet military personnel remained located in Ukraine’s three military districts. This mass was not an army but a force grouping, without a national Ministry of Defence, a General Staff or central organs of command and control. 'This grouping, its inventory of equipment and its officer corps were designed for one purpose: to wage combined arms, coalition, offensive (and nuclear) warfare against NATO on an external front.'[1] At that time, the armed forces of Ukraine included land force formations, one rocket army, four Air Force armies, a separate air defense army, and the Black Sea Fleet. Altogether, when established, the Armed Forces of Ukraine included more than 350 ships, 1500 combat aircraft, and 1272 strategic nuclear war-heads of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
On August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, enacted a resolution to take jurisdiction over all formations of the armed forces of the former Soviet Union stationed on Ukrainian soil, and to establish one of the key agencies, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.
| Armies of Ukraine |
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 Kievan Rus'
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 Zaporozhian Host
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 Ukrainian People's Republic
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| Independent Forces (Civil War Era) |
 Soviet Union
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 Ukraine
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Inherent in the process of creating a domestic military were political decisions by the Ukrainian leadership regarding the country's non-nuclear and international status. Included in this was the definition, agreement and ratification of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) which not only established the maximum level of armament for each republic of the former USSR, but also a special ceiling for the so-called CFE "Flank Region". Included in the region were Ukraine's Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhia Oblasts, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Also key for the creation of a Ukrainian military was the 1992 Tashkent Treaty, which laid out aspirations for a CIS military that would prove impossible to develop because the former republics of the USSR all wished to go their own way, ripping the intricate Soviet military machine into pieces.
The military and security forces, including the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a number of independent "militarized institutions" (paramilitary forces) are under the command of the Ukrainian President, and subject to oversight by a permanent parliamentary commission. The Ukrainian military's tactics and organization are heavily dependent on Cold War tactics, and former Soviet Union organization. Ukraine has however been pursuing a policy of independence from Russian dominance, and have taken steps towards closer ties with the West.
However, Ukraine retains tight military relations with Russia, mostly inherited from the common Soviet history. Common use of naval bases in Crimean and joint air defense efforts are the most intense branches of such cooperation. This cooperation is a permanent irritant in bilateral relations. But the country is unable to drop such ties quickly, being econonomically dependent on Moscow.
Plagued at times by hostile relations with Russia following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been steadfastly trying to develop its own independent military industry. Notable results of this effort are the Ukrainian-built T-84 main battle tank, currently in service, and the aircraft manufacturer Antonov. Ukraine received about 30% of the Soviet military industry, which included between 50 and 60 percent of all Ukrainian enterprises, which employed 40% of its working population. Ukraine was, and still remains, a leader in missile-related technology.[2] Especially navigation electronics for combat vessels and submarines, guidance systems, and radar for military jets. Tough competition in the world's weapons market obliged Ukraine to consider exporting arms to politically unstable or even aggressive regimes. Ukraine build its own connections in arms exporting. The first contracts on weapons deliveries to Iran, signed in the middle of 1992, and caused negative reaction in the West (particularly in the US).
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited two divisions of the Strategic Rocket Forces' 43rd Rocket Army (HQ Vinnitsa), the 19th Rocket Division (Khemilnitskiy) (90? UR-100N/SS-19/RS-18) and the 46th Rocket Division at Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast, equipped with 40 SS-19, and 46 silo-mounted RT-23 Molodets/SS-24s.[3] Ukraine voluntarily gave up these and its other nuclear weapons during the early 1990s. This was the first time in human history that a country voluntarily gave up the use of strategic nuclear weapons, through the Republic of South Africa was destroying its small tactical nuclear weapons programme at about the same time.
Ukraine has plentiful amounts of highly enriched uranium, which the United States wanted to buy from the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology. Ukraine also has two uranium mining and processing factories, a heavy water plant, a technology for making electronic to determine the isotopic composition of fissionable materials. Ukraine has deposits of uranium that are among the world’s richest. In May of 1992, Ukraine signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in which the country agreed to give up all nuclear weapons, and to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. Ukraine ratified the treaty in 1994, and as of January 1, 1996, no military nuclear equipment or materials remained on Ukrainian territory.
On 13 May 1994, the United States and Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Transfer of Missile Equipment and Technology. This agreement committed Ukraine to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) by controlling exports of missile-related equipment and technology according to the MTCR Guidelines.
| Military of Ukraine | |
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Military Manpower
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| Military age | 18 years of age |
| Availability | Males age 15-49: 12,196,319 (2003 est.) |
| Fit for military service | Males age 15-49: 7,316,038 (2005 est.) |
| Reaching military age annually | Males: 386,945 (2003 est.) |
| Active troops | 303,800 |
| Branches | Ground Forces Air Force Navy |
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Military Expenditures
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| Amount | $1,520.98 million(2006 est.) |
| Percent of GDP | 1.47% (2006 est.) [4] |
The Ukrainian armed forces are largely made up of conscripts. The total personnel (including 48,00 civilian workers) numbers 200,000.[5] The branch structure is as follows:
- Ukrainian Ground Forces: 88,500 personnel (2 Armored Brigades, 6 mechanized brigades, 2 airmobile brigades, 3 Artillery brigades, 1 rocket artillery brigade and various combat support formations)[6]
- Ukrainian Air Force: 51,500 personnel[7] (3 Su-24 Fencer regiments, 7 regiments with Fulcrum and Flanker, 2 regiments with Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot, 2 regiments with 29 Su-24MR reconnaissance Fencer, 3 transport regiments, some support helicopter squadrons, 1 helicopter training regiment, 5 air training regiments with 120 L-39 Albatros)[8]
- Ukrainian Navy: 17,500 personnel (16 combat ships, 8 ASW helicopters, 4 ASW airplanes)[9]
- Paramilitary:
- Internal Troops (Ministry of Internal Affairs): est. 39,900
- Border Guard: 45,000, including Ukrainian Sea Guard: 14,000
- Civil Defence Troops (Ministry of Emergency Situations): 9,500+
In 1997, Ukraine and Poland signed an Agreement on the formation of a Joint Peacekeeping Battalion, which became fully operational in 1999 in the Kosovo Conflict.
Ukraine has been playing an increasingly larger role in peacekeeping operations. Since 1997, Ukraine has been closely working with NATO, and especially Poland. A Ukrainian unit was deployed in Iraq, as part of the multinational force in Iraq under Polish command. A Ukrainian unit is also deployed in Lebanon, as part of the Polish-led UN Interim Force enforcing the mandated ceasefire agreement. Ukrainian troops are also deployed as part of the Ukrainian-Polish Battalion (UKRPOLBAT) in Kosovo. There is also a maintenance and training battalion deployed in Sierra Leone. The total Ukrainian military deployment around the world is about 2,800 troops.
The Orange Revolution was a series of peaceful protests (protected by some parts of the military against other parts) that overturned a fraudulent election for the Presidency in the winter of 2004-2005 resulting in the election of Viktor Yushchenko.
On November 28, 2004 over 10,000 IM (Internal Ministry) troops mobilized to put down the protests in Independence Square in Kiev according to their commander Lt. Gen. Sergei Popkov. The SBU (Ukrainian Security Service, successor to KGB) warned opposition leaders of the crackdown. Oleksandev Galaka, head of GRU (military intelligence) made calls to "prevent bloodshed". Col. Gen. Ihor P. Smesko (SBU chief) and Maj. Gen. Vitaly Romanchenko (military counter-intelligence chief) both warned Popkov to pull back his troops, which he did. Thus, the senior officers of the Ukrainian Security Services claimed the credit for averting a situation that they said risked bloodshed and, possibly, a civil war.[1]
Deployments as of October - November 2007:
Afghanistan: ISAF (PRT CHAGHCHARAN) - 2 doctors[10]
Democratic Republic of Congo: {MONUC) - 12 observers[11]
East Timor: (UNMIT) - 3 observers [11]
Ethiopia/Eritrea: (UNMEE) - 3 observers[11]
Georgia: (UNOMIG) - 2 Police, 3 Observers[11]
Iraq: - 34 (26 commissioned officers, 8 non-commissioned officers)[12]
Kosovo: International Kosovo Force (PMU/KFOR) - 179 soldiers[13]
Liberia: (UNMIL) - 315 soldiers[14][11]
Sudan: (UNMIS) - 16 Police, 6 Observers[11]
Mediteranean Sea: NATO Operation Active Endeavor - Corvette Lutsk[15]
Ukraine's militarized institutions independent from Armed Forces of Ukraine include:
- Internal Troops of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Внутрішні війська, Vnutrishni Viyska) — subordinated to the national police authority — Ministry of Internal Affairs ;
- Motorized military troops of Militsiya (Ukrainian: Моторизовані військові частини міліції, Motoryzovani Viyskovi Tchastyny Militsiyi) — also subordinated to the Ministry of Interior Affairs;
- State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Державна прикордонна служба України, Derzhavna Prykordonna Sluzhba Ukrayiny) — independent service
- Ukrainian Sea Guard (Ukrainian: Морська охорона, Morska Ohorona) — the coast guard within the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine;
- Various military troops of the SBU (no generic name)
- Emergency Troops of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Війська цивільного захисту, Viyska Tsyvilnoho Zakhystu; literally "Civil Defense Troops") — subordinated to the Ministry of Emergency Situations;
- Special Transportation Service of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Спеціальна служба транспорту, Spetsialna Sluzhba Transportu) — subordinated to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
Although not the parts of Armed Forces, these militarized institutions are supposed to fall under Armed Forces' command during wartime.
February 23 - The Defender Day
July 8 - The Air Defence Day
August 1 - The Navy Day
August 2 - The Airmobile Forces Day
August 8 - The Signal troops Day
September 7 - The Day of Military Intelligence
September 9 - The Day of Armour
September 14 - The mobilization serviceman Day
October 29 - The Day of finance officers
November 3 - The rocket troops and artillery Day
November 3 - The Day of Engineers
December 6 - The Armed Forces Day
December 12 - The Day of Ground Forces (Army)
December 23 - The Day of all level operational control structures servicemen.
- Sknyliv (Ukraine) airshow disaster
- Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 accident
- Ukrainian Military Organization
- List of countries by number of total troops
- ^ James Sherr, 'Ukraine's Defence Reform: An Update', Conflict Studies Research Centre, 2002
- ^ http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/ukraine/index.html
- ^ Source old early 1990s notes, but corroboration available for example at http://www.traveltoukraine.org/Ukraine_secret_sites.htm and Feskov et al
- ^ White Book
- ^ Ukrainian Armed Forces White Book p.90
- ^ Ukrainian Armed Forces White Book p.91
- ^ Ukrainian Armed Forces White Book p.92
- ^ IISS Military Balance 2006
- ^ Ukrainian Armed Forces White Book p.92
- ^ http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=10742
- ^ a b c d e f http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/contributors/2007/oct07_5.pdf
- ^ http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?part=peacekeeping&lang=ua&sub=iraq
- ^ http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=10468
- ^ http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=10740
- ^ http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=10774
- Official Website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense: in English and in Ukrainian (English)/(Ukrainian)
- Viysko Ukrayiny - Ministry of Defense' Army of Ukraine magazine (Ukrainian)
- Ukraine Defence White Book 2005PDF (Ukrainian)
- THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE (a page on the country-info site: structure, statistics, signs)
- "Defense-Express" specialized news agency (a project of Ukrainian "Center for Army Conversion and Disarmament Studies" NGO; subscription needed for most of the material)
- Ukrainian Army military history magazine (including info on insignia and military museums)
- London, UK-based Institute for Strategic Studies appraises Ukrainian Armed Forces' personnel as 295,500-strong. Ukrinform (2003-10-25). Information on Ukrainian army resources (both human and weapons).
- Military insignia of Ukraine from http://www.uniforminsignia.net
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