TERRITORIAL DEFENSE FORCES AS A PHENOMENON OF THE NATIONAL ARMY OF UKRAINE (FROM DECEMBER OF 2020 TO THE PRESENT DAY)

Abstract

The article deals with determination of the socio-political factors of the Territorial Defense Forces formation, analysis of legal support for citizens’ participation in territorial defense, elucidation of military activity of the Territorial Defense soldiers based on the analysis of sources. The authors analyzed the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine formation since December of 2020, when the Draft Law of Ukraine “On Territorial Defense” was registered, in fact the first draft law that defined the tasks of the Territorial Defense Forces, substantiated new concepts that were previously incomprehensible to the majority of the Ukrainians. In particular, in the Project there is elucidated the essence of the concept of “Territorial Defense System of Ukraine”, which combined military and civilian components.

The main aspects of the regulatory framework, which defined the Territorial Defense rights and obligations have been studied. The Law of Ukraine “On the Basics of National Resistance”, signed by the President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyi on July 16, 2021, has been analyzed. The main articles of the Law, which provide the Territorial Defense powers and their activities in the course of Russia’s armed aggression, have been considered. There have been analyzed the issues, which arose in communities regarding resistance movement organization at the beginning of the war. In the article there have been covered the issues of the Territorial Defense Association of Ukraine formation and development, the creation of an integral system of the Territorial Defense operation.

The methodology of research is based on the principles of scientificity, historicism, and objectivity, which made it possible to implement general scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, and generalization. The scientific novelty consists in a comprehensive study of the topical issues of the Territorial Defense Forces formation, functioning and military resistance to the Russian aggression. The Conclusion. It has been determined that the very system of the Territorial Defense Forces needs to be improved under the conditions of the armed aggression against our state. Further development and improvement is required for the legal framework of the Territorial Defense organization and management, which, in our opinion, was adopted rather hastily, without taking into account the basic requirements of the Forces functioning. The experience of foreign countries in the territorial defense formation has been analyzed, which should be used in the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine. A leading role of the Territorial Defense Forces in the performance of the objectives for the territorial communities protection of Ukraine has been determined. There has been given the factual material on the death of territorial defense soldiers during combat missions. The facts of awarding and encouraging members of the TrO with combat awards, including the Motivational Banner, have been documented.