Overview of Reforms in Defense Sector of Ukraine by Sergio Azenberg

We modernize the Armed Forces of Ukraine and strengthen the country.

Overview of Reforms in Defense Sector of Ukraine

In spite of economic instability caused by the military conflict in the East of Ukraine, Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is continuously working to create absolutely new national security system.

August, 2016

Nowadays

we have managed to achieve notable successes and to implement a number of reforms necessary for the State. Today, the Armed Forces Reform process is widely supported by the leading democratic states of European Union and NATO and pinpointed by an extensive involvement of Ukrainian society, from volunteers, civil society and up to businesses. With this joint effort, we will establish Armed Forces of Ukraine of a new kind: having optimal strength, good equipment, high quality training and staffed with real professionals.

August 2016

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NATO

MUZHENKO: UKRAINE WILL SWITCH TO NATO STANDARDS BY 2020 Armed Forces of Ukraine identified their goal as switching to NATO standards by 2020, Commanderin-Chief of AFU Victor Muzhenko stated.

Thursday, 11 August, the Commander-in-Chief of AFU Victor Muzhenko had a meeting with the Head of NATO Standardization Office one-star General Edvardas Mazeikis. During the negotiations, the Ukrainian Party declared its “ambitious task”: to achieve full interoperability with the forces of NATO member states, as is read in the Statement of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine .

THE FIRST GRADUATION OF NATO STANDARDS-BASED TACTICAL MEDICINE TRAINERS TOOK PLACE AT YAVORIVSLIY TRAINING FIELD First tactical medical trainers graduated from the International PeaceKeeping and Security Centre of National Army Academy named after Hetman Petro Sahadachniy. They were trained according to 68W NATO Standard.

Trainings

Nineteen

volunteers have been trained hard during three months and a half. According to the first trainees the training time passed very quickly because every day brought new knowledge not just about health care and use of modern medical systems included in the field medical kits of NATO Member States but also about practical teaching and psychological skills.

DURING “SKY SHIELD-2016” EXERCISES, OPERATIONS OF THE AIR FORCE WERE PRACTICED

At the end of the training, all participants passed the “field test” where they were expected to operate continuously for six hours. The training took place at the training field according to the Green Berets methodology.

The Airforce of Ukraine continues Top Table Exercise “Sky Shield-2016” with involvement of command and control bodies of various levels.

Combat

crews of air force units, together with combat crews of air defense and radio warfare troops of the Airforce, in interaction with the Land Force units, have practiced air intelligence and air strike operations. Also, the service personnel conducted air fights and implemented the protec-

tion by air defense under various combat conditions. These activities were aimed at augmenting combat capabilities to react adequately to air threats and to support assets of AFU. During the trainings of the air defense units on duty, the aircraft crews successfully used air-born weapons to destroy the ground targets.

The scenario required the medical personnel to find the location where OSCE vehicle crew disappeared due to an attack with explosives and to rescue the injured persons while having their full pack the all the time. The whole test was conducted under supervision of American and Ukrainian trainers. Special cards were used to record any mistakes and interesting creative ideas.

Overview of Reforms in Defense Sector of Ukraine

NATO

AFU Reform

MINISTER POLTORAK TOLD ABOUT REORGANIZATION OF MINISTRY OF DEFENSE Stepan Poltorak told the plan is to reform MoD by 2018 and General Staff, by 2020. He stated this at the meeting of the Reform Committee of MoD and AFU, Ukrinform reports.

UKRAINIAN-POLISH-LITHUANIAN BRIGADE MOVES UKRAINE CLOSER TO NATO President of Poland Andrzey Duda and President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko underline the efficiency of Ukrainian-PolishLithuanian brigade where our soldiers implement together the standards for operations of NATO troops.

President

of Ukraine stated that it is an important new tradition when the President of Poland reviews the Ukrainian military parade together with him. Petro Poroshenko noted that the UkrainianPolish-Lithuanian brigade took part in the parade. ‘‘This is their first appearance in public. And they looked worthily’’, — President said. The Head of Ukrainian State noted

that the foreign partners already demonstrate their interest and desire to learn from Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian Brigade’s experience and to establish similar military formations in their countries. ‘‘I believe that here we have first results of European, Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. They are outcomes of our cooper ation with you in security and defense sec tor. This cooperation is extremely effective’’ — Mr. Poroshenko emphasized.

AFU Reform

PROCEDURE TO PRICE DEFENSE PRODUCTS UNDER SOLE-SOURCE VENDOR SELECTION PROCESS WAS APPROVED

The

Cabinet of Ministers issued Resolution as of 8 August 2016 No. 517 approving the pricing of products, works and services of defense purpose in case if the vendors of such products, works and services are selected without competitive procedures. Mechanism to price the following items was established: Defense purpose products purchased by public customers within the Public Defense Contract; Performance of scientific-research and research and design activities of defense purpose and determination of the cost of purchase and creation of non-tangible assets within the framework of Public Defense Contract; Activities to repair and modernize defense purpose products within the framework of the Public Defense Contract.

August 2016

Minister

of Defense emphasized that the reforms have made it possible to reorganize this war agency. ‘‘We managed to reorganize Ministry of Defense, to reduce the number of structural units from 25 to 18 and to downsize its staff by almost 200 individuals’’, — the Minister stated. Poltorak underlines that also they managed to reform the structure of AFU; now it includes Joint Operational Staff and separate Arms.

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Support to AFU

MINISTRY OF DEFENSE HAS SPENT MORE THAN 100 MILLION UAH FOR MEDICATIONS SINCE THE START OF THIS YEAR Since the beginning of this year, MoD spent more than 100 million UAH to purchase medications.

The

budget of MoD of Ukraine for 2016 allocates about 257 million UAH for the medical care. Since the beginning of this year, MoD has already received 180 million UAH from the State budget for this purpose; out of this amount, more than 100 million were spent to purchase medications.

ABOUT 50 ATO PARTICIPANTS RECEIVED NEW APARTMENTS ATO participants received 30 apartments in a newly-erected building in the town of Vorzel, in Kyiv Oblast.

The

housing certificates were handed by the First Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan Rusnak. He said that the apartments were an award for many years of impeccable military service with AFU. Even in times of hardship the government takes care of servicepersons’ housing. Last year, 1300 service apartments and permanent dwellings were distributed and during eight months, 790 apartments have already been distributed. It is the second year when compensation for housing has been paid. 80 families

have received apartments since the beginning of the year. The amount of compensation is from three hundred thousand to one million UAH depending on the specific region of the country. In the city of Korosten the housing certificates to 23 apartments were handed by the Deputy Minister of Defense – Head of Staff twostar general Olexander Dublyan. According to the plan, by the Independence Day 200 more certificates for service apartment examination have been issued to ATO participants, veterans of the service and military pensioners.

MoD managed to save more than 2 million budget funds which are intended to be spent with purchase of medical equipment to cover the needs of military health care institutions and also, with bleeding arrest mechanical kits. This money was distributed among military-medical institutions according to their priorities and spent in full. Ukrainians assist military-medical institutions and medical units of military units with charity donations in kind. As of now, Ukrainian Army has received medications and medical equipment worth the total amount of 367 million UAH.

Armed Forces Supply

CABINET OF MINISTERS SUGGEST INTRODUCING COMPENSATION OF HOUSING LEASE FOR CONTRACTED SERVICEMEN

Cabinet of Ministers approved the Bill “On Amending Article 12 of Law of Ukraine “On Social and Legal Protection of Service personnel and their Family Members”.

This

information was provided by Press-Service of Mod of Ukraine. The Bill provides for introduction of compensations of the housing lease to service personnel in case if they cannot be accommodated in special design barracks or hostels. ‘‘According to the current version of the Law “On Social and Legal Protection of Service personnel and their Fami-

ly Members”, the compensation is due exclusively for commissioned officers and cadets of military schools who have families’’, — Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak noted. ‘‘According to the proposed amendments, about 16 thousand contracted servicepersons’ families will be entitled to the compensation for the housing lease’’, — explained the official.

Overview of Reforms in Defense Sector of Ukraine

Trainings

CARRIER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IS BEING ESTABLISHED FOR UKRAINIAN NCO’S

Generation of professional NCO core is an important component of the overall reform and professionalization process in AFU, hence the Ukrainian NCO’s need to have prospect of their carrier growth similar to the officer’s system, as it is now in NATO member states. ‘‘Contract soldiers gain certain skills and knowledge while with AFU, so it is very important to retain them.

This

is what was stated by the Chief Sergeant of AFU – Chief of NCO Directorate of the General Staff of AFU, Chief Warrant Officer Olexander Kosinskiy during the briefing for mass media at MoD Press Center.

In order for an individual to have a desire to continue the service, in addition to a decent salary and social package we need to give him/her a chance to build a professional sergeant’s or other NCO’s carrier, to be promoted, to have

Defense Capacity

Trainings

next military ranks based on a system similar to the one which exists for commissioned officers’’ — Chief Warrant Officer Olexander Kosinskiy said. He noted that AFU have about 55 thousand NCO positions. Respectively, these positions should be filled with professionals capable of performing their duties.

IN 2016, ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE WILL RECEIVE MORE THAN 6 THOUSAND ITEMS OF WEAPONRY AND MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND ALMOST 2.5 MILLION MUNITIONS

«As of today, Armed Forces of Ukraine purchased and delivered more than 3,600 new and modernized pieces of weapons and military equipment.

Most

of them are armored, motor road and engineering equipment, unmanned aircrafts, modernized radars, artillery systems, machine guns, guided missiles, infrared aiming units, ground radars, information protection units. Also, 58 thousand munitions and about 7 thousand modules of protection against shaped charges “Nizh” type, twostar general Olexander Dublyan informed. At the same time, repairs and renovations of weapons and military equipment continue. «Since the start of ATO AFU logistic support system was deployed, which allowed for renovation of more than 52 pieces of materiel.

UKRAINIAN NAVY SAILORS GAINED EXPERIENCE IN DIVING TRAINING ACCORDING TO NATO STANDARDS A group of Ukrainian Navy professional divers returned to Odessa from Constanza, where they participated in international exercises in diving «Eurasia Partnership Dive - 2016». This multi-national event took place within the framework of Eurasian Partnership Program.

According

to the Deputy Chief of Search and Rescue Service of Operational (Combat) support Department of Command Staff of Navy of AFU, Commander Olexiy Nesterov, the exercises were focused on diver’s theoretical training, practical trainings to practice underwater search as well as identification and neutralization of explosive items. ‘‘Romanian trainers shared their techniques of diving activities, practical preparation on physiology of underwater diving, medical support to diving operations’’, — Commander Olexiy Nesterov

August 2016

stressed — ‘‘In addition, the participants had an opportunity to become familiar with the equipment and support devices for diving operations used in the forces of NATO member states’’. The soldiers from various countries participated in practical preparation of explosive charges inside a diving chamber, n their placement and initiation by fire and by electricity. Also, representatives of Ukrainian Navy became familiar with capabilities of Diving Center of Romanian Navy, tactical and technical features of search and rescue vessel «Grigore Antipa» and diver’s support boat «Venus».

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Defense Capacity

INTENSITY OF TRAINING OF ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE TRIPLED «Intensity of training of Armed Forces of Ukraine tripled”, — Minister of Defense of Ukraine, General of Army Stepan Poltorak stated. – This allowed for having yet in the first half of the year 11 brigades ready for operations».

IN CASE OF ESCALATION OF THE SITUATION, THE NEXT WAVE OF MOBILIZATION AND THE MARTIAL LAW WILL BE DECLARED President Petro Poroshenko does no exclude declaration of mobilization and implementation of martial law.

‘‘Today

we have abrupt escalation in both Crimea and the East. At the same time the situation on the East has changed dramatically’’, — Petro Poroshenko said while talking to journalists in Lviv Oblast. The Head of State emphasized that «for the last ten days big caliber artillery of terrorists shoots against headquarters and warehouses located at 20 to 25 kilometers from the contact line in depth of the territory’’. The Head of State emphasized that shelling is done by artillery crews of Russian Federation troops which ‘‘arrive with the specific purpose to kill Ukrainians’’. The President underlined that without any disregard of importance of economic development and creation of jobs; national defense and security remain extremely important and still are the first priority. According to the Head of State, if the situation escalated, the next wave of mobilization will be announced and martial law will be introduced: ‘‘If the escalation continues, I will issue a Decree announcing the mobilization and introducing the martial law because there is

nothing more important than Ukraine, independence of Ukraine, our freedom and democracy’’. The President emphasized that today there is a clear program of recruiting contracted servicemen, their salaries have been increased, quality of their messing, uniforms and medical support has been improved significantly. ‘‘45 thousand Ukrainians to sign contracts with the Armed Forces since the beginning of the current year’’, — Head of State underlined and emphasized that people volunteer to serve in the Army, which enhances significantly the quality of the Armed Forces. This allowed for demobilizing the 4th and 5th waves of mobilization without declaring a new one but “this does not mean that there will be no mobilization at all”. President noted that AFU are ready to repel any actions of the terrorists and thanked international partners of Ukraine which “conduct political-diplomatic struggle to contain the aggressor and make them return to compliance with Minsk agreements and to Normandy format negotiations”

ccording to him, since the beginning of 2016, Land Forces conducted 371 exercises, Navy, 83 and Airforce, 46 piloting-tactical exercises. «There is a progress in the system of preparation of field training facilities, — Minister of Defense of Ukraine noted. – In particular, it includes construction of the infrastructure of the garrison town on the territory of “Shirokiy Lan” field training site, creation of a modern Training center to train units at Yavorivskiy field training site and Training Center of Special Operation Forces in Berdichiv». Improvement of quality of training of military command and control structure has been confirmed by the results of July comprehensive table top exercises “Summer Thunderstorm-2016” and “Southern Wind-2016”.

Overview of Reforms in Defense Sector of Ukraine

System Reform of the Armed Forces

Combatting Corruption in MOD

THE EXPERT ANTI-CORRUPTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO OVERSEE MOD UKRAINE ANTI-CORRUPTION ACTIVITIES IN FULL ACCORDANCE WITH THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE BULLETIN OBJECTIVES, IN 2016 THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE DEVELOPS INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, PROCEDURES, RULES, REGULATIONS SEEKING TO FORM CORRUPTION-REJECTION CULTURE AND HIGH-LEVEL GOVERNMENT CONTROL THAT MEETS INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS.

July 22, 2016, the Defence Minister signed a decree on establishing the Expert Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee to ensure public and international control over the defence department activities in preventing corruption, as well as secure an independent international expert advice to help create and fulfil anti-corruption measures for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and Armed Forces.

PRESIDENT POROSHENKO ENACTED NDSC RESOLUTION ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the Decree “On Resolution of National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine as of 20 May 2016 “On Measures to Develop Defense-Industrial Complex of Ukraine” by which the NDSC Resolution was enacted.

This

information was provided by Press-Service of the Head of State. They inform that NDSC examined a set of issues related to the state of affairs within the defense-industrial complex as well increase of scope of tasks for re-equipping AFU and other military formations established by law of Ukraine with an up-to-date and modernized weapons and military equipment under conditions of Russian aggression. ‘‘Having examined the aforementioned issues, NDSC instructed Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to ensure within a month drafting and submission to Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for review amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Licensing certain Types of Business Activities” with respect to licensing activities for development, manufacturing, sale, repairs, modernization and salvaging of weapons. Within three months, the Government is expected to develop, in particular, draft laws of Ukraine to ensure favorable conditions to attract foreign investments to the defense-industrial complex by means

August 2016

of establishing joint ventures; peculiarities of activities related to development and manufacturing of weapons and military equipment; support to the aviation industry by providing for measures concerning taxation of transactions for importing into the customs territory of Ukraine foreign make aircrafts which have been operated for more than 5 years if analogues of such aircrafts are produced in Ukraine; fostering to decrease of cost of long-term loans by means of subsidizing from the State Budget of Ukraine certain portion of the cost required to pay interest rate under the loans received at Ukrainian financial institutions with the purpose of serial production of Ukrainian aircrafts, modernization and technical upgrade of aircraft construction enterprises’’, — President’s Press-Service Release reads. Besides, Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to prepare and to approve within a month the target Program for reform and development of Ukrainian DIC for the period until 2020. Also, by 1 January 2017, main directions of development of weapons and military equipment for a long-term are expected to be approved.

THE COMMITTEE’S KEY TASKS ARE: To provide expert advice to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on creating and implementing anti-corruption measures for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, its management sphere and Ukraine’s Armed Forces. To evaluate and help execute corruption prevention and combatting recommendations (programmes) developed by international institutions and international non-government organisations. To provide information support for anti-corruption measures for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and Armed Forces through planning and implementing internal and external communications, performing information campaigns, working with media, and arranging public events. To help the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine interact with entities specially authorised to combat corruption, other executive agencies, national and international NGOs as well as submit relevant proposals to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine top officials.

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Combatting Corruption in MOD

STRATEGIC DEFENCE BULLETIN: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS FIGHTING AGAINST CORRUPTION IN 2015, THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE ADOPTED THE ANTI-CORRUPTION PROGRAMME FOR 2015-2017, THUS BECOMING ONE OF THE FIRST EXECUTIVE AUTHORITIES IN THE COUNTRY TO START ACTIVELY PREVENTING AND COMBATTING CORRUPTION.

January 2016, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine’s all-round board outlined the task to fight corruption under reforms.

outlined in Ukraine’s Strategic Defence Bulletin, which was supported by the NATO member countries Defence Ministers.

For the first time, the long-term road map for combating corruption in the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and Armed Forces was

In compliance with the defence reform objectives and core tasks, by the end of 2018 the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine will boost

effectiveness of existing anti-corruption agencies and independent supervisory institutions to reduce corruption risks in defence force operations. To curtail the defence budget corruption-related losses, by 2017 the Ministry of Defence

of Ukraine will ensure implementation of its Anti-Corruption Programme as well as absolute intolerance toward corruption and fully effective prosecution of corruption.

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE HOLDS SECOND INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION WEEK THE STRATEGY ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ‘UKRAINE-2020’ SAYS, THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AND MEASURES OF PURGING THE GOVERNMENT, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, ARE FUNDAMENTAL FOR SECURITY ISSUES. CURRENTLY, ENHANCING THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IS A TOP PRIORITY OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE, ARMED FORCES, MILITARY ADMINISTRATION AGENCIES AT ALL LEVELS.

effectively perform this task, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine was the first among high-level authorities to endorse the Anti-Corruption Programme for 2015-2017 and introduce a range of reforms striving to transform the Armed Forces to modern advanced troops complying with the European standards.

istry Anti-Corruption Programme, as well as examine experience of the international NGO Transparency International (UK), compare it with NATO projects on building integrity, and projects of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the Centre for Integrity in Defence Sector in Norway’s Defence Ministry.

tion Programme priority tasks as well as exchange experiences and improve key activities in the anti-corruption sphere in 2016.

Last year, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine hosted the First International Anti-Corruption Week, which allowed participants to assess the 2015-2017 Defence Min-

This year, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine will hold the Second International Anti-Corruption Week to analyse implementation of the 2015-2017 Anti-Corrup-

executing recommendations provided by last year’s participants, above all, improving control and monitoring over corruption

MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF UKRAINE, COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA DEPARTMENT +38 044 271 34 78, +38 044 245 44 01, psmodu@mil.gov.ua PRESS SERVICE OF THE REFORM PROJECT OFFICE +38 096 844 98 77, +38 067 447 41 05, a.lukashevych@stratcomua.org

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The Second International Anti-Corruption Week is scheduled for November 2016. The attendees will gather to discuss issues on:

risks in the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine,

informing and strengthening cooperation with relevant Parliamentary committees,

developing the ‘Code of Ethics for Security and Defence Sector Officials’,

developing monitoring algorithm to implement measures under the AntiCorruption Programme for 2015-2017 etc.

Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Overview of Reforms in Defense Sector of Ukraine