The legal foundation for the participation of citizens in the territorial defense of Ukraine

Abstract

The article analyzes the legal foundation for the participation of citizens in the territorial defense of Ukraine and volunteer formations of the territorial communities during armed aggression. The concepts of territorial defense, resistance movement and national resistance are considered. The purpose of national resistance is understood as increasing the defense capability of the state, giving the defense of Ukraine a comprehensive character, and helping to ensure the readiness of Ukrainian citizens for national resistance. It has been systematized the information on the status of the territorial defense of Ukraine at the end of February 2022 and it was identified the problematic issues that the territorial communities faced in the process of organizing resistance forces in the subordinate territories during the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. There are some problems that the communities faced in organizing resistance forces on their territories at the beginning of the war. Among them there were singled out: the lack of coordination of the activities of volunteer battalions, military administrations and law enforcement agencies; problems of identifying certain groups of the population as volunteer formations; lack of proper financial and logistical support for territorial defense units of the Armed Forces and volunteer formations. It has been analyzed the main components of the territorial defense, including military, civil and military-civilian. The features of the creation of volunteer formations and territorial communities and the procedure for their recruitment are considered, as well the requirements of volunteers under the legislation of Ukraine. It is noted that the basis of volunteer formations of territorial communities should be the citizens of Ukraine who have completed military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the service of other military formations and law enforcement agencies. It has also been defined the rules in accordance with which the citizens can participate in repelling and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and other states, including the rules that regulate the procedure for purchasing the firearms and the ammunition for it, as well as the procedure for its use in a military conflict.