| Military branches | Armed Forces of Ukraine (Zbroyni Syly Ukrayiny, ZSU): Ground Forces (Sukhoputni Viys’ka), Naval Forces (Viys’kovo-Mors’ki Syly, VMS), Air Forces (Povitryani Syly, PS), Air Assault Forces (Desantno-shturmovi Viyska, DShV), Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (UASOF), Territorial Defense Forces (Reserves); Ministry of Internal Affairs: National Guard of Ukraine, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (includes Maritime Border Guard) (2021) |
| Military service age and obligation | conscription abolished in 2012, but reintroduced in 2014; 20-27 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation is 12 months (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 3% of GDP (2020 est.) 3.9% of GDP (2019) 3.7% of GDP (2018) 3.1% of GDP (2017) 3.6% of GDP (2016) |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | information varies; approximately 200,000 active troops (150,000 Army, including Airborne/Air Assault Forces; 12,000 Navy; 40,000 Air Force); approximately 50,000 National Guard (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the Ukrainian military is equipped mostly with older Russian and Soviet-era weapons systems; since 2010, it has imported limited quantities of weapons from several European countries, as well as Canada, the US, and the United Arab Emirates; Ukraine has a broad defense industry capable of building Soviet-era land systems and maintaining and upgrading Soviet-era combat aircraft, as well as missile and air defense systems (2020) |
| Military deployments | 250 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) (2021) note - Ukraine contributes about 500 troops to the Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine joint military brigade (LITPOLUKRBRIG), which was established in 2014; the brigade is headquartered in Warsaw and is comprised of an international staff, three battalions, and specialized units |
| Military - note | the Ukrainian military’s primary concern is Russia’s material support for armed separatist forces in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk where the conflict has become stalemated along a 250-mile front known as the line of contact; since the cease-fire of October 2019, Ukrainian military casualties along the front line have fallen significantly despite continued sporadic exchanges of fire through 2020 and into 2021 |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
