Hybrid threat phenomenon as a newest threat to national security
Authors: Busol Olena 
Published: May 2021

In today's world, military force is no longer sufficient to guarantee the state security. Nowadays, Ukraine serves as a low-cost platform to protect the interests of some of the strongest EU and US states. This situation creates additional risks for the existence of the state, in particular, due to hybrid wars, because Ukraine cannot be considered as full-fledged partner of these states.
National security is now closely linked to human capital, and the strength or weakness of the latter is determined by the state of education and science of the state that the Republic of Singapore has successfully proven. Hybrid war is distinguished by such concepts as information terrorism, the economic genocide of the state from the outside, and the health of the nation.
The purpose of the given article is to characterize the newest kind of threats to the national security of Ukraine in modern conditions, namely hybrid wars; to consider the phenomenon of hybrid threats, and to make suggestions as for strengthening the protection of Ukraine against such threats.
Today, most areas of public life are at stake in Ukraine, including economic, political, information, education, science, healthcare, history, and national identity. Ukraine has made certain strides to counter information threats. However, this does not guarantee the protection of Ukraine's national interests from the manifestation of information aggression by other states, which take precedence in the means of conducting information warfare.
Winning a hybrid war requires effective public administration, including all aspects of national security, not just the military one.
In the next five years, we should expect further strengthening of the role of non-traditional military forces (cybernetic, information, biological, chemical) in resolving internal and inter-state conflicts, as well as such non-threatening means of influence as economic sanctions, political and diplomatic arrangements, which now have significant advantages over armed means.
The phenomenon of hybrid threats is that the states which are not well prepared for this kind of warfare have the illusion that such war does not exist, although in reality this situation is a new kind of threat to national security, namely a hybrid war.
In order to strengthen the protection of the state against hybrid threats, the following high-priority steps should be taken in Ukraine:
— development and adoption of a new operational national Concept for combating hybrid warfare;
— development and adoption of the State Program for Combating Organized Crime on the basis of scientific developments;
— establishment of a central coordinating body that will manage the macro-system of combating organized crime as an organizational and functional system;
— improving the Doctrine of Information Security, specifying measures for information policy and cyber security;
— increasing the efficiency of using public diplomacy tools;
— strengthening the cybernetic protection of state objects and increasing the effectiveness of cyber-counteraction in Ukraine;
— providing explanations to citizens and public associations about the possibilities of their influence on political and administrative decision-making;
— developing measures to train highly qualified personnel to ensure national security;
— developing tools together with NATO partners to consolidate efforts to counter military, political and economic threats posed by Russia;
— restoration of the nuclear status of Ukraine.
Key words: phenomenon, illusion, hybrid threats, war, national security, inter-state conflicts.