One of my most recent projects was inspired by recent events taking place in Ukraine. The country who’s army was being deliberately incapacitated and methodically destroyed by sold-out governments for many years… The same army, which is now facing an uneasy task of liberating their land from armed to the teeth pro-Russian terrorist mercenary scam. Here is a little something for moral support to those brave guys and gals, helping people of Ukraine to realize their dreams of freedom and democracy.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Збройні сили
України (ЗСУ) Zbroyni Syly Ukrayiny, (ZSU)) are the military of Ukraine.
Ukraine is officially a non-aligned state, but until the 2014 Ukrainian
revolution, had a rather warm relationship with its neighbor the Russian
Federation, allowing the latter to keep some contingents of its military forces
on Ukrainian soil.
Military units of other states participate in
multinational military exercises with Ukrainian forces in Ukraine regularly.
Many of these exercises are held under the NATO co-operation programme
Partnership for Peace.
The Ukrainian Ground Forces (Ukrainian: Сухопутні Війська
ЗСУ, Sukhoputni Viys’ka ZSU) are the land force component of the Armed Forces
of Ukraine. They were formed from Soviet Ground Forces formations, units, and
establishments, including three military districts (the Kiev, Carpathian, and
Odessa Military Districts), that were on Ukrainian soil when the Soviet Union
collapsed in 1990–92. Throughout the 1990s, Ukraine retained much Soviet-era
army equipment. Since then, however, Ukraine has upgraded its Ground Forces
with advanced additions from domestic engineering and modifications. Currently,
the Ukrainian Ground Forces buys military equipment only from Russia and other
CIS states, as well as locally producing some of their own equipment.
Mechanised Infantry and armoured forces are the primary components of the
Ukrainian Ground Forces. Their primary objectives in case of war are capturing
and holding targets, maintaining positions, defending against attack,
penetrating enemy lines and defeating enemy forces.
The Ukrainian Air Force (Ukrainian: Повітряні Сили
України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny) is a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Air Force headquarters is located in the city of Vinnytsia. When the
Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, a large number of aircraft were left on
Ukrainian territory. Ever since, the Ukrainian air force has been downsizing
and upgrading its forces. In spite of these efforts, the main inventory of the
air force consists of Soviet-made aircraft. The primary tasks of the Air Force
of Ukraine are: winning operational air superiority, delivering air strikes
against enemy units and facilities, covering troops against enemy air strikes,
providing air support to the Land Force and the Navy, disrupting enemy military
and state management, damaging and destroying enemy communication, and
providing support by air in the form of reconnaissance, air drops, troops and
cargo transportation.
The major mission of the Air Force is to protect the air
space of Ukraine. In peace-time, this is carried out by flying air-space
control missions over the entire territory of Ukraine
The Ukrainian Naval Forces (Ukrainian: Військово-Морські
Сили України, ВМСУ, Viys’kovo-Mors’ki Syly Ukrayiny, VMSU) is the navy of
Ukraine and part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was established in 1992. It
consists of 5 branches: surface forces, submarine forces, Navy aviation,
coastal rocket-artillery and marines. The Navy numbers 15,470 people. The navy
operates in the Black Sea basin (including Sea of Azov and Danube Delta).
Distant operations of the Ukrainian Navy are limited to multinational
activities, such as Operation Active Endeavour and Operation Atalanta in the
Mediterranean and Horn of Africa. The headquarters of the Ukrainian Naval
Forces was, until the 2014 Crimean crisis, situated at Sevastopol in Crimea.
In the 2014 Crimean crisis, Russia annexed Crimea, where
the majority of the bases of the Ukrainian Navy were situated. Twelve thousands
of Ukraine's 15,450 Navy personnel were based in Crimea, and the majority
defected to Russia or resigned from military service.[citation needed] Russia
also has control of at least 12 of Ukraine's 17 major warships. The base north
of Odessa became the main operational Ukrainian Naval base. Ukraine also lost
control of its Navy's main underground ammunition-storage site at the Inkerman
valley, outside Sevastopol, as well as of its helicopter-repair facilities. The
Navy's 750-strong 1st Marine Battalion at Feodosia was overrun by pro-Russian
forces, its personnel arrested, and its equipment seized.
On 8 April 2014 an agreement had been reached between
Russia and Ukraine to return captured vessels to Ukraine and "for the
withdrawal of an undisclosed number of Ukrainian aircraft seized in
Crimea". At the time Russian Navy sources claimed the Ukrainian ships were
"not operational because they are old, obsolete, and in poor condition".
The National Guard was originally created on November 4, 1991 right after Ukraine gained its independence under a direct supervision of the Supreme Council of Ukraine. However it was controversially disbanded nine years later on January 11, 2000 as part of a 'cost-saving' exercise by the then President Leonid Kuchma. In 1995 - 2000 there existed both the National Guard of Ukraine and the Internal Troops of Ukraine.
As always, the above insignia are available on a limited number of selected quality products via my “Military Insignia” galleries at Zazzle. You may simply follow the direct links in the article to navigate to the corresponding galleries.
I will also make my insignia designs available free of charge to any military units and personnel, for any non-profit/non-commercial and charitable causes, benefiting troops and their families. In addition, I would make my designs available free of charge to any military branches, formations and units for any non-commercial internal duty-specific purposes, such as unit-related web design, training materials or presentations, as I did on many occasions in the past.
The above information provided in part by Wikipedia, Global
Security, and the official websites of the corresponding units and formations.
