Scholarly record

THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE IN THE LIGHT OF UKRAINE CONFLICT

E. Gorner, P. Cajka

Abstract

Ukraine, more specifically the ongoing armed conflict on its soil still attracts a lot of attention. There are still many unanswered questions that might help us understand why conflict started and how long will it last. One of the most important things is to remember that the crisis in Ukraine is multidimensional thus there are many reasons for the current situation and there is no easy solution. In this paper, we mainly concentrate on military issues. The main aim of this article is to find out how deep is the impact of the state and long-term development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We analyze not only the state of armed forces but also Ukraine’s long-lasting orientation towards the west and its neutrality in international security relations. We use mainly the historical analysis to find out strengths and weaknesses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the paper, we also analyze important security documents and laws of the country. Because Ukraine first went on the path of the professionalization of armed forces and then turned back to a conscription we also apply some theories of conscription to analyze specific issues. We found out that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not prepared sufficiently for the conflict. It seems to be mainly the fault of inconsistency in leading the Ministry of Defense but as well the fault of insufficient military spending. It seems very likely that the state of defense caused the inability of the armed forces to deter enemy and it was one of the reasons for the conflict to begin.

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