The National Police of Ukraine (, ; /NPU ), often simply referred to as the (), is the national, and only,

police service The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It was formed on 3 July 2015, as part of the post-

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

reforms launched by Ukrainian president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

, to replace Ukraine's previous national police service, the

Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, 3=mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə, 5=, ) were the police forces in the Soviet Union until 1991, in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), and in the Non-Aligned Movement, non-aligned Socialist Federal Republic ...

. On 7 November 2015, all the remaining ''militsiya'' were labelled "temporary

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

" members of the National Police. The agency is overseen by the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

.National Police established in Ukraine

Interfax Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(2 September 2015)

History

Prior to 3 July 2015,

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

in Ukraine was carried out directly by the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the ''

militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, 3=mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə, 5=, ) were the police forces in the Soviet Union until 1991, in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), and in the Non-Aligned Movement, non-aligned Socialist Federal Republic ...

''. Plans to reform the ministry, which was widely known to be corrupt, had been advocated by various governments and parties, but these plans were never realised. In the aftermath of the 2013–2014

movement and subsequent revolution, the need for reform was acknowledged by all parties. Parliamentary elections were held in October 2014, after which all five of the parties that formed the

governing coalition A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an e ...

pledged to reform the ministry and create a new national police service. As part of the reforms, the Minister of Internal Affairs,

Arsen Avakov Arsen Borysovych Avakov (, ; born 2 January 1964) is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from ...

, presented plans to reduce the number of police officers in Ukraine to 160,000 by the end of 2015. The reform plans started with the combination of the ministry's current State Auto Inspection (DAI) and the patrol service in the country's capital

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

in summer 2015. This new police patrol received funding from various countries. 2,000 new policemen and women, picked from 33,000 applicants, were recruited to initiate the new service in Kyiv. Officers were trained in the North American style by police officers from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Upon the launch of Kyiv's new patrol police on 4 July 2015, the ''militsiya'' ceased all patrolling but continued working at precincts and administrative offices. After that the new police patrol was rolled out across Ukraine. The organisation was formally established as the National Police on 2 September 2015. By late September 2015, 2,000 new constables were on duty in Kyiv, 800 were on duty in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

and 1,700 were on duty in the cities of

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

and

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. At this point, the ''militsiya'' was 152,000 officers strong, and continued to handle most policing across Ukraine. The basic salary of the new police force (almost $400 a month) is about three times as much the basic salary of the former ''militsiya''; an attempt to decrease

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

. The new National Police officially replaced the old ''militsiya'' on 7 November 2015. On that day, the remaining ''militsiya'' were labelled "temporarily

" members of the National Police. The change allowed for them to become members of the National Police after "integrity checks", but they were only eligible if they met the age criteria and went through retraining. This transition period ended on 20 October 2016. In this transition period 26% of police commanders were dismissed and 4,400 policemen and policewomen demoted and the same number of people promoted. ''

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

'' collected (from open sources) 64 crimes allegedly committed by Ukrainian police officers from 1 January 2020 until 30 May 2020. Cases ranged from extortion to rape to killings.Who to call when the police kill? Chronicle of tortures, murders and beatings of law enforcement officers

(5 June 2020) The NPU was assisted by the EU Advisory Mission Ukraine between 2017 and 2022 through the PRAVO Police Programme, implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), in an effort to modernize Ukrainian law enforcement to European standards. Member of the Kharkiv police during the Russian attacks

Member of the Kharkiv police during the Russian attacks

On 14 February 2022, the National Police was transferred to combat alert, as a response to the Russian military buildup and threat of the invasion. The National Police and its tactical unit

Rapid Operational Response Unit The Rapid Operational Response Unit (), commonly abbreviated KORD (), is a special purpose unit of the National Police of Ukraine. History KORD was created as a special police force for the then-recently created National Police of Ukraine. Recr ...

directly participated in hostilities against the invading

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

at the Kyiv offensive. As the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

progressed, the National Police helped in the war effort by maintaining law and order in Ukrainian-controlled areas, escorting prisoners, operating

checkpoints Checkpoint may refer to: Places * Border checkpoint, a place on the land border between two states where travellers and/or goods are inspected * Security checkpoint, erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary cont ...

, capturing infiltrators and detaining

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. By 1 March, 17 policemen were killed, 50 injured and 2

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty (person), casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoner of war, prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been ...

. In February 2023, the MIA ordered the raising of 8 new assault brigades to support the Ukrainian war effort, one of those new brigades, the

Liut Brigade The Liut Brigade (, also spelled Lyut), is an assault brigade of the National Police of Ukraine formed on January 13, 2023, as a merger of three Special Purpose units from the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas. History Formation Dur ...

, is the only one so far made up of officers, NCOs and constables of the NPU's Special Police. In 2024, three additional brigades were added as directly reporting under NPU Headquarters.

Terminology

According to Professor Oleksandr Ponomariv of the

Kyiv University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

's Institute of Journalism, the correct Ukrainian language term for a police officer is 'politsiyant' ''()''. This is in contrast to the term 'politseysky' ''()'', a loan word from the Russian language, commonly used to refer to an officer of the National Police. Bicycle police in Lviv

Ranks are rarely used by the public when addressing police officers in Ukraine; it is more common to hear the term Pan ''()'' (female - Pani ''()'' - Ukrainian for mister/miss - used to refer to police officers. Qualifying terms such as 'ofitser' ''()'' or 'politseiskyi' ''()'' may also be used in conjunction with these forms of address.

Structure and branches

The National Police is divided into a number of different services. Each force has internal subdivisions. This leaves the police service with a large number of specialised branches which can more specifically target certain types of crime and apply more expert knowledge in the investigation of cases relating to their area of policing. In addition to these specific groups, all police forces retain a majority of officers for the purpose of patrol duty and general law enforcement. The police contains the following subdivisions: *Criminal Police ''()'' – investigation and prevention of serious and violent

crime in Ukraine The fight against crime in Ukraine is led by the Ukrainian Police and certain other agencies. Due to the hard economic situation in the 1990s, the crime rate rose steadily to a peak in 2000. Following this peak, the crime rate declined, until 20 ...

**Department in the fight against drug-related crime **Department of Cyber Police ''()'' – fighting against cyber crimes **Department of Economic Security *Department of Patrol Police ''()'' – general law enforcement operations, traffic policing and patrol duty (includes riot police divisions) ** number of municipal administrations *Department of Police Security ''()'' – Successor to the State Security Service (nothing to do with the

State Security Administration The State Security Service, also known by its original name as the Directorate for State Security, was the secret police organization of Communist Yugoslavia. It was at all times best known by the acronym UDBA, which is derived from the organiz ...

) In addition, the following special units exist: *Special Police ''()'' – Tasked with keeping order in areas with special status and/or affected by natural or ecological disaster. *

(KORD) ''()'' – Tactical response unit, tasked with resolution of stand-off situations involving hostages and/or heavily armed suspects. Also tasked with providing a tactical support function to other divisional officers. *Pre-trial Investigative Services ''()'' – Representatives of the National Investigative Bureau, Tax Authorities and Security Services, tasked with investigating crime.

Shoulder patches of the regional police subdivisions

Rank hierarchy

Officers

Junior officers

Equipment

Officers wear a camera that is constantly monitoring their performances. The resulting videos are posted on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

and broadcast on a

reality TV show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

Vehicles

Police Day

National Police Day (, ) on 4 July is the professional holiday of the Ukrainian Police. It commemorates the suspension of law enforcement duties by the Militsiya and the establishment of the National Police of Ukraine. It also coincides with the first oath of patrol policemen on Kyiv's Sofia Square. The holiday was introduced and first celebrated on 4 August 2015 and was celebrated on that day ever since until President

, by decree on 4 April 2018, declared that the holiday should be celebrated annually on 4 July and become a national holiday.

References

External links

* * {{Central office of executive authority of Ukraine Law enforcement agencies of Ukraine Government agencies established in 2015 Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine) 2015 in Ukraine 2015 establishments in Ukraine Institutions with the title of National in Ukraine National police forces