ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issues to show how defense and military issues have evolved in post-Soviet Ukraine. It discusses the role of military issues in the breakup of the Soviet Union and the links between establishing an independent Ukraine and establishing a Ukrainian military. The chapter examines the problems that have emerged in sustaining the military, which has not been immune from Ukraine's economic woes. It describes the related issue of transforming the military industrial complex, which was one of Soviet Ukraine's great strengths and is one of independent Ukraine's great liabilities. The chapter also examines the effort to determine the major threats to Ukrainian security and the best means of meeting them. It also explores the increasing interaction between Ukraine's military forces and those of other countries, which has occurred both through NATO's Partnership for Peace and through Ukraine's participation in UN peacekeeping missions.
