The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine ( SBGSU; , ; ) is the

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

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 is an independent

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

, organized by 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 ...

as a military formation, the head of which is subordinated to 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. ...

. The Service was created on July 31, 2003, after the reorganization of the State Committee for Protection of the State Border. During wartime, units of the State Border Guard Service fall under the command of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces 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 Rad ...

. The State Border Guard Service includes the Ukrainian Sea Guard, which is the country's

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

. It is also responsible for running Temporary Detention Centres, in which

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s are held.

History

Ukrainian border guards are the national successors of the

Soviet Border Troops The Soviet Border Troops () were the border guard of the Soviet Union, subordinated to the Soviet state security agency: first to the ''Cheka''/State Political Directorate, OGPU, then to NKVD/Ministry for State Security (USSR), MGB and, final ...

. They were formed from the approximately 17,000 Border Troops located in Ukraine in 1991. The organization was first titled the "Ukrainian Border Troops", which was later subordinated to the "Ukraine's State Committee for State Border Guarding". From 1991 to at least 1993, the new borders with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

were not guarded; the Border Troops were only deployed along the western borders (minus

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

) and on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. Another 9,000 personnel were added to the Border Troops at the expense of the

, and, by the end of 1993, border posts were established in the north along the Russian and Belarusian borders. In 1999, the authorized strength of the force was again increased to 50,000. In 2003, new legislation was adopted, and this somewhat changed the legal status of the institution. In March 2003, the Border Troops became the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and its status was legally changed from 'military formation' to 'special law-enforcement body.' The force was legally granted 50,000 personnel, including 8,000 civilian employees. On 4 July 2012, a State Border Guard Service Diamond DA42 aircraft failed to make its scheduled radio contact with ground units. A

Search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

mission revealed that the plane had crashed into a wooded mountainous area in Velykyi Bereznyi Raion, killing all 3 crew members on board. A further investigation was launched. During The

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

on August 31, 2014, two Sea Guard Zhuk class patrol boats were struck by land-based artillery. In June 2, a border base in the outskirts of

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

was besieged by a troop of

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

separatists. The Siege of the Luhansk Border Base resulted in 10 wounded Border Guards until they surrendered and withdrew. In 2022, during the Battle of Snake Island 13 border troops were attacked and captured by Russian warships. A unit of border guards was stationed in

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

and fought during the Siege of Mariupol. In 20 April, the border guards were stranded in an encircled pocket at the Mariupol sea port together with National Police of Ukraine, until they were rescued by the Azov Regiment and retreated into the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. On 30 April 2024, Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, said in an interview that 30 Ukrainians have died trying to leave since February 2024 when conscription was introduced. Since the implementation of martial law some 450 criminal gangs have been formed specialising in people smuggling. In April 2024, was announced the creation of the third combat brigade in the State Border Guard Service. The brigade was named Hart and Colonel Volodymyr Chervonenko became its commander.

Structure

State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is a special enforcement branch tasked with the protection of Ukrainian state border on land, sea or any other inland water obstacle. During wartime, the Border Guards units fall under the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They were the first Ukrainian units to counter Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.

Mobile response units

* Dozor Detachment * Pomsta Brigade (former Luhansk Detachment) * Stalevy Kordon Infantry Brigade * Hart Brigade (former Donetsk Detachment) * Forpost Brigade (former Kramatorsk Detachment)

Border detachments

* Berdyansk Detachment * Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Detachment * Chernihiv Detachment * Chernivtsi Detachment * Chop Detachment * Izmail Detachment * Kharkiv Detachment * Kherson Detachment * Lutsk Detachment * Lviv Detachment * Mohyliv-Podilskyi Detachment * Mukachevo Detachment * Odesa Detachment * Podilsk Detachment * Shostka Detachment * Sumy Detachment * Zhytomyr Detachment

Maritime Security

* Izmail Sea Guard Unit * Mariupol Sea Guard Unit * Odesa Sea Guard Unit

Aviation

* Lviv Aviation Squadron * Kharkiv Aviation Squadron * Odesa Aviation Squadron

Volunteer Units

* Cossack Regiment Shevchenko * Special Purpose Battalion Sever

Commanders

Directors (commanders) of the Border Guard Service (border troops): * 1991–1994: Valeriy Hubenko * 1994–1999: Viktor Bannykh * 1999–2001: Borys Oleksiyenko * 2001–2014: Mykola LytvynPresident appoints Nazarenko as new border chief

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 October 2014) * 2014–2017: Viktor NazarenkoPoroshenko appoints Head of Operations Department Tsyhykal as State Border Service chief

(25 July 2017) * 2017–2019: Petro Tsyhykal * 2019–present: Serhii DeinekoZelensky appoints new chief border guard

UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

(14 June 2019)

Military ranks

Uniform

File:Знак Прикордонна служба України-800x800.jpg, Patch File:Прикордонної служби України-800x800.JPG, Cockade File:Прикордонна служба на зимову шапку пластик-800x800.JPG, Officers cocarde File:Прикордонна служба на берет пластик-800x800.JPG, Privates cocarde

Long service medal

File:Медаль «Ветеран служби» (ДПСУ).png, 25 years in service File:Медаль «20 років сумлінної служби» (ДПСУ).png, 20 years in service File:Медаль «15 років сумлінної служби» (ДПСУ).png, 15 years in service File:Медаль «10 років сумлінної служби» (ДПСУ).png, 10 years in service

History

Structure

Mobile response units

Border detachments

Maritime Security

Aviation

Volunteer Units

Commanders

Military ranks

Uniform

Long service medal

Equipment

Gallery

See also

References

External links