Legal regulation of the interaction of the armed forces of Ukraine and voluntary formations of territorial communitie
Authors:   Lviv Polytechnic National University, Hunko Leonid 
Published: June 2023

The peculiarities of the interaction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with territorial defense units and voluntary formations of territorial communities in the conditions of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the problems of legal support for such interaction and the legislative determination of the status of voluntary formations of territorial communities are considered. Formulation of the problem. As a result of the imperfection of the legislation concerning the territorial defense of Ukraine, there are problems of interaction between the Armed Forces, territorial defense and voluntary formations of territorial communities. The contradiction of individual articles of Ukrainian legislation provokes a decrease in the level of effective use of territorial defense and voluntary formations of territorial communities in the conditions of full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Analysis of recent research and publications. The full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has led to the consideration of the problems of regulatory support for the territorial defense of Ukraine and the voluntary formations of territorial communities. A. L. Beikun and O. M. Romashko in their work consider the essence and content of the legal regulation of the security and defense sector of Ukraine, the effectiveness of the interaction of all components of the security and defense sector, including the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the conditions of Russian aggression. Yu. L. Kolhushkin in his dissertation highlights the issue of administrative and legal provision of territorial defense of Ukraine. Troianskyi O. A. analyzes the legal principles of citizens’ participation in the territorial defense of Ukraine and voluntary formations of territorial communities, he analyzes the main components of territorial defense, considers the peculiarities of the formation of voluntary formations of territorial communities. Main material. Legal regulation of the interaction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and voluntary formations of territorial communities provides for ordering and regulating the behavior of the specified participants in legal relations with the help of legal norms. The need for proper regulation of the interaction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Defense Forces of Ukraine arose in connection with military operations in the conditions of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in accordance with the Law of Ukraine No. 1702-IX “On the Basics of National Resistance”. Territorial defense forces exist in many states and are one of the factors in strengthening the state's defense capability. In most countries, the territorial defense forces are closely related to the armed forces or are their integral part. The legislation of Ukraine defines the voluntary formation of a territorial community as a military-civilian component of territorial defense, a paramilitary unit formed on a voluntary basis from citizens of Ukraine living within the territory of the relevant territorial community which is intended to participate in the preparation and fulfillment of territorial defense tasks. Changes made to the legislation of Ukraine regarding the interaction of the Armed Forces with voluntary formations of territorial communities and the use of units of voluntary formations of territorial communities in the combat zone have created some problems. This concerns the inconsistency between the new content of the status of voluntary formations of territorial communities and the obligations during the formation, material and technical support of voluntary formations of territorial communities as well as rights and guarantees for territorial defense and voluntary formations of territorial communities. It is necessary to emphasize that the regulatory support for the interaction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the voluntary formations of territorial communities needs further improvement, firstly, a clear definition of the status, rights and guarantees of voluntary formations of territorial communities; secondly, provision of the financial component and, thirdly, material and technical support, including weapons and military equipment.