Authors

Discussion

The report provides a study of world patterns of territorial defense with an extrapolation to the Ukrainian model in its historical perspective.

In a broad sense, territorial defense forces are defined as institutions with a military function or a type of force that plays a greater or smaller role in the whole country’s military establishment. This definition is really vague, but it contains three specific features of this phenomenon – its local, grass-rooted nature; protective, non-aggressive character, not regular army status. Sometimes the line between regular army and territorial forces is blurred due to a certain model of the armed forces or their combat capability. As for irregular armed structures, it should be mentioned that militia was formed in emergency of wartime conditions on the volunteer territorial basis. The militia formations are supposed to operate in the non-occupied territory. At the same time the partisan units must have a mandatory support by the local population and it distinguishes them from criminal armed groups. They can also act in the occupied territories on the side of the government if the latter fight against an external danger or against the government if they are opposed to it both in peace or war time.

In the narrow sense, territorial defense is a state system of military training and it functions on a permanent basis of the armed units according to the territorial principle. They do not belong to the regular army, but serve as its reserve in peacetime or wartime. That enables significantly reduction of the possibility of hostile aggression, the increase the losses of the aggressor’s army and its military expenditures. Modern models of territorial defense vary and they are in constant development. They are country specific and depend on historical background, military doctrine, participation in international military unions, and changing current situation.

Ukraine has a long tradition of territorial defense during the period of no statehood (Cossacks, UPA). With the start of the hybrid war with the Russian Federation in 2014, Ukraine needed additional military resources such as Territorial Defense Battalions (2014-2015). These volunteer units of the Armed Forces under the supervision of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, then they were reorganized into regular army units. Before the full scale Russian invasion, a model of territorial defense had been developed in Ukraine. In 2021, a Law on National Resistance was adopted. It was actively discussed and criticized by politicians and society. A number of public organizations promoted an alternative concept of territorial self-defense and they proposed the general involvement of Ukrainian citizens for defense of the country through combat training and military-patriotic education. In fact, from the first days of Russian aggression, the model of territorial defense began to be shaped and tested by the real practice of military operations.