The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, ( NSDCU; , ''RNBOU'') or RNBO, is the coordinating state body of the executive power under the

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

on issues of national security and defense. It is a state agency tasked with developing and coordinating a policy of national security on domestic and international matters in advising the

(currently

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

). All the sessions of the council take place in the Presidential Administration Building. The agency's membership is determined by the President, but it must include the

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine (, , ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the government of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the government of Ukrain ...

Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, and the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. As of December 2024, the council is headed by secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko, who replaced

Oleksiy Danilov Oleksiy Miacheslavovych Danilov (; born 7 September 1962) is a Ukrainian politician who was the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine from 2019 to 2024, when he was replaced by Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the former head o ...

on 26 March 2024. Since 2014, the Council has received expanded powers, including the authority to impose sanctions. Under the presidency of

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

, starting in 2021, the NSDC has actively implemented sanctions against Ukrainian citizens. This practice has been criticized by human rights organizations and legal experts as potentially unconstitutional and inconsistent with the principles of the rule of law, alleging it is used for politically motivated purposes.

Current composition

As of March 2024, the National Security and Defence Council consists of the following members:

Functions

Sanctions against Ukrainian citizens

The sanctions policy of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) has been widely criticized for the application of personal restrictive measures against Ukrainian citizens without a court ruling, which violates the

Constitution of Ukraine The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...

and fundamental principles of the rule of law.Sanctions against Ukrainian citizens: Legal analysis and human rights concerns
– ZMINA Human Rights Centre, October 2023 (in Ukrainian). Sanctions are imposed by NSDC resolution based on the Law “On Sanctions”,Official text of the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions"
adopted on August 14, 2014. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. but the mechanism does not provide for judicial involvement, which contradicts legal standards of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and other democratic states. Human rights organizations, including the Center for Civil Liberties, the

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union All-Ukrainian Association of Public Organizations Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) was founded by 15 public human rights organizations on 1 April 2004. UHHRU is a non-profit and non-partisan organization. Statutory mission Realizati ...

, and the

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KhPG) is one of the oldest and most active Ukrainian human rights organizations. As a legal entity, it was established in 1992, but it has been working as a human rights protection group in the Ukrain ...

, have pointed out the unconstitutional nature of this practice. They emphasize that the NSDC is a political body and lacks the authority to carry out quasi-judicial functions. In February 2025, several Ukrainian human rights organizations issued a joint statement condemning the use of sanctions as a tool of political pressure against the opposition. According to critics, the sanctions mechanism has increasingly been used as a political instrument by incumbent President

to eliminate political rivals and strengthen control over the media and business sectors. Sanctions have targeted opposition politicians, journalists, and businessmen, including former 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 ...

, entrepreneurs

Ihor Kolomoyskyi Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi (; ; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli billionaire businessman, once considered the leading oligarch in Ukraine. Already an entrepreneur in the last years of Soviet Ukraine, in 2010 Kolomoyskyi w ...

and

Gennadiy Bogolyubov Gennadiy (Zvi Hirsch) Bogolyubov (, ; b. 20 January 1962) is a Ukrainian oligarch based in the United Kingdom. He controlled Privat Group, along with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and . Early life Gennadiy Bogolyubov is a native of Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dniprope ...

, journalist Svitlana Kryukova, former presidential adviser

Oleksiy Arestovych Oleksii Mykolaiovych Arestovych (; born 3 August 1975) is a Ukrainian political adviser, former military officer, and columnist. He is also a theologian and the founder of the Apeiron School. Arestovych was a speaker for the Trilateral Contact G ...

, and businessman

Kostyantyn Zhevago Kostyantyn Valentynovych Zhevago (, ; born 7 January 1974) is a Ukrainian businessman, philanthropist and politician. He was a member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament of Ukraine) continuously for 21 years from 1998 until 2019. Executive Direc ...

. International human rights organizations, including

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, have voiced similar criticism, stating that sanctions are being “systematically used as a tool of

political persecution Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

.”Ukraine: Use of sanctions undermines human rights
– Amnesty International, March 2023.

History

Defense Council

The ''Defense Council'' was created by the provision of Supreme Council of Ukraine #1658-12 on October 11, 1991. The Defense Council was defined as the highest state body of collegiate governing on matters of defense and security of Ukraine with following goals: * Protecting sovereignty * Constitutional order * Territorial integrity and inviolability of the republic * Developing strategies and continuous improvement of policy in sphere of defense and state security * Comprehensive scientific assessment of the military threat nature * Determining position toward modern warfare * Effective control over the execution of the tasks of the state and its institutions keeping defense capabilities of Ukraine at the level of defense sufficiency On January 23, 1992, the

appointed Myroslav Vitovsky as a secretary of the Defense Council, a position which Vitovsky held until November 30, 1995.

Initial composition

* Chairman of the Supreme Council of UkraineStatement of Verkhovna Rada about creation of the Defense Council of Ukraine
Official document. October 11, 1991 * Prime Minister of Ukraine * Head of commission of the Supreme Council of Ukraine on issues of defense and state security of Ukraine * State Minister on issues of defense, national security and emergency situations in Ukraine * State Minister on issues of defense complex and conversion of Ukraine * Minister of Defense of Ukraine * Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine * Director of the Security Service of Ukraine * Commander of Border Troops of Ukraine * Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine * Chief of Staff of the Civil defense of Ukraine After the establishment and elections of the

the composition of the council was reformed on April 9, 1992, by a provision of the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

(Ukraine's parliament).History of RNBOU
. RNBOU official website. *

* Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ukraine *

* First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ukraine * Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine * Minister of Defense of Ukraine * Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine * Minister of Machine-building, Military-Industrial Complex and Conversion of Ukraine * Chief of the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

* Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine * Commander of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine

National Security Council

The Council was originally created under temporary provision on July 3, 1992, as the ''National Security Council'', but significantly revamped and strengthened under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

in 1994. The council was headed by a Presidential adviser in national security matters: * July 1, 1992 - April 19, 1993

Volodymyr Selivanov Volodymyr Selivanov or Vladimir Selivanov (; born 5 November 1945 in Izhevsk, Soviet Union, now Russia) is a Ukrainian jurist, researcher and politician. In 1992 - 1993 he served as a secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine ...

(Adviser of the

on national security matters - Secretary of National Security Council) ** ''before November 19, 1992 as State adviser of Ukraine on national security matters * December 1, 1993 - August 5, 1994 Valeriy Kartavtsev (Secretary of National Security Council) * August 5, 1994 - November 10, 1999

Volodymyr Horbulin Volodymyr Pavlovych Horbulin ( Ukrainian: Володимир Павлович Горбулін; born 17 January 1939 in Zaporizhia, Ukrainian SSR) is a Soviet and Ukrainian politician, Head of the Council for Foreign and Security Policy, former s ...

(Secretary of National Security Council) ** since October 17, 1994 as Secretary of National Security Council - Adviser of the

on national security matters On August 23, 1994, the

adopted new provision for the Council. After the adaptation of the

on June 28, 1996, the provisions of the council (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine) were outlined in the Article 107. Thus, the National Security Council was merged with the already existing Defense Council of Ukraine and was adapted by the Presidential edict on August 30, 1996. According to former secretary Andriy Klyuyev, 460 people worked at the Council in 2010, while in April 2012 the number of employees was 90. President

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

limited the number of employees of the Council to 180 on 9 April 2012.Decree:At most 180 people to work in National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(9 April 2012) The agency's membership is determined by the President, but it must include the

, and the

. The head of the council is the President of Ukraine assisted by the secretary whom they are allowed to appoint. In the absence of existing President of Ukraine, such as between elections, the acting chairman of the council is the Prime Minister. The

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine () is the presiding officer of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russi ...

is not a member of the council, but they are allowed to participate in the meetings. Members of the council may also be other chairmen of government bodies of the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

. Any other individual is only allowed by special invitation from the Chairman of the Council. If the President resigns, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada becomes the acting head of the National Security and Defense Council.Poroshenko signs law expanding powers of National Security and Defense Council and its secretary

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) ...

(23 December 2014)

Secretaries since 1994

References

External links

* *
Official web-site of the President of UkraineOfficial twitter page
English language
Official Ukrainian language Twitter page
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Security And Defense Council Of Ukraine Presidency of Ukraine

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 ...

1991 establishments in Ukraine Ukrainian intelligence agencies