Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Zahorodniuk has said that the country’s defense plan is currently being developed and will be presented in 2020.
“The defense plan will be presented next year. But the draft plan, its first developments will be ready this year,” the head of the Defense Ministry said in an interview with Radio Liberty on Sept. 21.
He recalled that the development of such a plan was entrusted by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The defense plan is not a document issued once. It will be revised … In parallel with it, concepts will be developed for each type of the Armed Forces. Each of them has a plan for the development of capabilities,” said Zahorodniuk.
In addition, he said, this year’s priority tasks are a defense inspection and analysis of the security context, on the basis of which threat scenarios are determined, and then a defense and national security strategy.
Zahorodniuk also believes that the Strategic Defense Bulletin needs to be reworked. “Since many decisions are formally implemented, but essentially nothing has changed,” he explained.
The minister of defense also notes that next year the Armed Forces of Ukraine should complete the process of transition to a new structure that meets the structure of NATO.
“I believe that this will be a very difficult transition, because it is not just a renaming of departments or their restructuring – this is a paradigm shift in the organization of the Armed Forces,” he said.
Zahorodniuk recalled that NATO is a strategic goal for Ukraine and the transition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the standards of the Alliance – “this is an absolute priority, which we accelerate and strengthen.”
“When a country meets NATO standards, the issue of joining the Alliance will be only in the political area,” he said.
As reported, Zelensky instructed the minister of defense to develop and approve a defense plan and a set of measures to ensure the country’s security from aggression.
“Our priority is a powerful and capable army. The minister of defense is ordered to propose changes to the legislation needed for the creation of powerful troops, to draft and approve a plan of defense and a package of measures to defend the country against aggression,” Zelensky said while meeting with Cabinet members, the administration of the Verkhovna Rada and law enforcement agencies in Kyiv on Sept. 2.
On Sept. 20, the Verkhovna Rada amended the law “On Defense of Ukraine,” according to which the president of Ukraine will approve the defense plan and the military-administrative division of the state.
The law defines the concept of “plan of defense of Ukraine.” This will be an integral part of defense planning, which contains a set of documents defining the content, volumes, performers, the order and terms of political, economic, social, military, informational, legal, organizational and other measures of the state in preparation for the armed defense of Ukraine in case of aggression or armed conflict.
