page_title: Ukrainian Ground Forces
section_title: Iraq
hierarchical_section_title: Ukrainian Ground Forces / Deployment outside of Ukraine / Iraq
caption_attribution_description: English: Henadii Lachkov, commander of the Ukrainian contingent in Diwaniya, Iraq, kisses his country’s flag during an end of mission ceremony at Camp Echo, December 9th, 2008.
context_page_description: The Ukrainian Ground Forces are the land force component of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They were formed from Soviet Ground Forces formations, units, and establishments, including three military districts, that were on Ukrainian soil when the Soviet Union collapsed.
  Since Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 Ukraine retained its Soviet-era army equipment. Also, the Armed Forces have been systematically downsized since 1991 and as a result it was largely dilapidated in July 2014. Since the start of the War in Donbass in April 2014 in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine continues to upgrade its Armed Forces. Its size of 129,950 in March 2014 had grown to 204,000 active personnel in May 2015, with the Ground Forces branch having 169,000 soldiers as of 2016. In 2016, 75% of the army consisted of contract servicemen. Ukraine's ground forces have also received more modern tanks, APCs, and many other types of combat equipment.
context_section_description: Ukraine deployed a sizable contingent of troops to the Iraq War, these were stationed near Kut. Ukraine's troop deployment was the second largest of all former Soviet states besides Georgia and they deployed more soldiers to the nation then many members of NATO such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Ukraine also suffered the fifth highest casualty toll during the war, with only Polish, Italian, UK, and US forces suffering heavier losses.
  From 2003–2005 over 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers were deployed to Iraq, the third-largest contingent at the time, they were designated to the 5th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine), as in Ukraine's mission to Kosovo the troops deployed were contract soldiers and not conscripts. Ukraine began to severely draw down its troop levels in Iraq in 2005 due to mounting casualties and the political toxicity of the conflict. By 2005 only 876 soldiers, roughly half of the original contingent were deployed, by years end troop levels dropped to below 100. In 2008, one year before the official end of the US military mission, President Viktor Yushchenko ordered all remaining troops deployed to Iraq to be returned home and Ukraine's mission to the nation officially over.
caption: Henadii Lachkov, commander of the Ukrainian contingent in Iraq, kisses his country's flag
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