Armed Forces of Ukraine

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are the combined military forces of the state of Ukraine. The service is organised around three principal branches, the Ground Forces, the Air Force and the Navy, and around a growing set of separately organised forces and support commands, among them the Air Assault Forces, the Marine Corps, the Special Operations Forces, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Territorial Defence Forces and the medical, logistics and communications services. The Navy has its own aviation arm, and the National Guard serves as a paramilitary reserve component. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the new state inherited a very large force grouping and set up its own armed forces by law in December 1991. Since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War the service has fought continuously and has been described as the most battle-hardened in Europe, and it operates one of the largest and most varied drone fleets in the world while replacing its Soviet-era equipment with NATO-standard systems.