Ukraine’s defense: A legacy from the Soviet era

Tanks of the Ukrainian army on Khreshchatyk Street in the capital Kiev during the military parade marking the 30th anniversary of Independence Day in 2021 – Photo: AFP

According to some experts, the current escalation of hostilities has posed serious challenges to the Ukrainian military as well as its defense in dealing with Russia since winning the war. independence in 1991.

Previously, arms production was a spearhead industry in Ukraine in the early 1990s. Ukraine’s advantage lies in inheriting the technological background of the defense industry and a large workforce from 14 countries of the former Soviet Union. According to the sheet The Wall Street JournalAt that time, Ukraine’s defense industry was estimated to have about 700,000 employees out of a population of 52 million.

In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union sought to revive war-torn cities by building defense industrial zones throughout the countries of present-day Eastern Europe.

The Soviet leadership at that time chose the city of Dnipropetrovsk in southern Ukraine (present-day Dnepropetrovsk) to build a new plant for the production of military satellites and for the production of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Crowds gather to watch Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s televised speech in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 20, 2022 – Photo: AFP

The combination of arms production and political power that permeated Eastern Europe brought prosperity to the Dnipropetrovsk region, and turned it into a launch pad for the careers of many Soviet politicians of the time. that point. Defense production in Dnipropetrovsk and surrounding areas increased rapidly during the Cold War period between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Since then, Ukraine’s defense has undergone major changes after its separation from the Soviet Union in 1991. Under President Leonid Kuchma in 1994, the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions developed into heavy industrial zones. Subsequently, the Kuchma administration began to expand the area into the political, cultural, financial and media center of the country.

Under President Petro Poroshenko, the Kiev government has pushed to replace the country’s terms of neutrality and non-alignment from the time of President Leonid Kuchma with a proposal to join the European Union (EU) and the Organization of the European Union. North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) after Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine’s defense has been greatly influenced since that time.

According to Radio Russia Todayin early April 2022, incumbent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that in order to resolve the current conflict and deal with the next potential enemies, his country will have to draw up plans to modernize national defense to ensure better and more comprehensive national security.

Western news agencies said that the Ukrainian army can protect important military and civilian targets in Lugansk, Donbass… provided it can receive more support in terms of weapons and equipment. military from NATO and the US.

As Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a meeting with NATO officials in April 2022, what Ukraine wants most is only three things: “weapons, weapons and weapons.” .

However, Dr. Taris Ferdiko, a social anthropologist at St. Andrews (UK), comments in the newspaper The Wall Street Journal “The current conflict with Russia will reshape Ukraine’s politics and defense industry in different ways,” said May 26.

Ukraine could very well “become a larger version of Israel”, as Mr. Zelensky put it. A strong state (where defense precedes considerations) and guaranteed security are paramount requirements for freedom.