(WARNING! This skin is a remake/update of this one: CLICK HERE)

(and also SLAVA UKRAINE AND FUCK PUTIN!)



Ukranian Armed Forces/Ground Forces Background:


The Armed Forces of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Збройні сили України [ЗСУ]; Zbroini syly Ukrainy, [ZSU]) are the military forces of Ukraine. They are the principal deterrent force against any aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rada parliamentary commission.

Ukraine's armed forces are composed of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, the Ukrainian Air Force, the Ukrainian Navy, the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces and the Special Operations Forces. Ukraine's navy includes its own Ukrainian Naval Infantry, as well as Ukrainian Naval Aviation. The Territorial Defense Forces serve as the Military reserve force and in cases of war, it can be mass mobilized for civilian volunteers to serve in local defense. The Ukrainian Sea Guard is the coast guard service of Ukraine, but it is part of the Border Guard Service and not subordinate to the navy.

Because of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, the president commissioned the governors of oblasts of Ukraine to create volunteer units under the government's Territorial Defense Forces. Initially, these units received minimal funding from regional budgets and mostly relied on donations. In November 2014, most of the territorial defense battalions were integrated into the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The National Guard of Ukraine serves as a paramilitary reserve component of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Following hostilities with Russia in 2014, Ukraine increased the size of its armed forces to 204,000 soldiers (+46,000 civil servants), not counting additional forces such as the border guards (53,000), the newly formed National Guard of Ukraine (60,000) or the security service. In 2021 the size of Ukraine's armed forces, which consists of 246,445 (195,626 military personnel), makes it the second largest in the region after the Russian Armed Forces. In 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered an increase in the size of the forces by 100,000 by 2025, while ending conscription in 2024. Conscription will be replaced with short-term intensive military training.

Military units of other countries have participated regularly in multinational military exercises with Ukrainian forces in Ukraine. Many of these exercises have been held under the NATO co-operation program Partnership for Peace.



Rusian-Ukranian 2022 "Special Military Operation" Background:



Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, marking a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. The invasion has triggered Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with more than 4.8 million Ukrainians leaving the country and a quarter of the population displaced.

At the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, and Russian-backed separatists seized part of the south-eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, sparking a regional war there. In 2021, Russia began a large military build-up along its border with Ukraine, amassing up to 190,000 troops along with their equipment. In a broadcast shortly before the invasion, Russian president Vladimir Putin espoused irredentist views, questioned Ukraine's right to statehood, and falsely accused Ukraine of being governed by neo-Nazis who persecute the ethnic Russian minority. Putin also said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) constitutes a threat to Russia's national security by expanding eastward since the early 2000s, which NATO disputed. Russia demanded NATO cease expansion and bar Ukraine from ever joining the alliance permanently. The United States and others accused Russia of planning to attack or invade Ukraine, which Russian officials repeatedly denied as late as 23 February 2022.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014. The invasion caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with more than eight million Ukrainians fleeing the country and a third of the population displaced. The invasion also caused global food shortages.

In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and Russian-backed separatists seized part of the Donbas region of south-eastern Ukraine, consisting of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, sparking a regional war. In 2021, Russia began a large military build-up along its border with Ukraine, amassing up to 190,000 troops and their equipment. In a televised address shortly before the invasion, Russian president Vladimir Putin espoused irredentist views, challenged Ukraine's right to statehood, and falsely claimed Ukraine was governed by neo-Nazis who persecuted the ethnic Russian minority. On 21 February 2022, Russia recognised the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, two self-proclaimed breakaway statelets in Donbas. On the following day, the Federation Council of Russia authorised the use of military force, and Russian troops overtly entered both territories.