Armed Forces of Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Збройні сили України (ЗСУ), romanized: Zbroini syly Ukrainy; abbreviated as ZSU or AFU) are the military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the President of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rada parliamentary commission. They trace their lineage to 1917, while the modern armed forces were formed after Ukrainian independence in 1991.
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Ukraine's armed forces are composed of the Ground Forces, the Air Force, the Navy, the Air Assault Forces, the Marine Corps, the Special Operations Forces, and the Territorial Defense Forces. Ukraine's navy includes its own Naval Aviation. The Sea Guard is the coast guard service of Ukraine, and it is organized as part of the Border Guard Service, not subordinate to the navy. The Air Defence Forces were a military branch responsible for anti-aircraft warfare from 1991 until it was merged with the Air Force in 2004.
Following hostilities with Russia in 2014, Ukraine increased the size of its armed forces. In response to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, the president commissioned the governors of regions of Ukraine to create volunteer units under the government's Territorial Defense Forces. These units received minimal funding from regional budgets initially and mostly relied on donations. In November 2014, most of the territorial defense battalions were integrated into the Ground Forces. The National Guard serves as a paramilitary reserve component of the Armed Forces.
Military units of other countries have participated regularly in multinational military exercises in Ukraine. Many of these exercises have been held under the NATO cooperation program Partnership for Peace. Soviet era military equipment is gradually being replenished with NATO standard arms.