The Armed Forces of Ukraine are the 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 Rada parliamentary commission. They trace their lineage to 1917, while the modern armed forces were formed after Ukrainian independence in 1991.
A Tu-22M being dismantled through assistance provided by the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program implemented by the DTRA, 2002
An SS-20 on display at the World War II Museum in Kyiv
Marine of the Ukrainian Marine Corps in a military exercise in Scotland, 2003
Ukrainian Airmobile Forces in 2011
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 president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term of office, limited to two terms consecutively.
President of Ukraine
President of the Central Council Mykhailo Hrushevskyi (1917–18)
Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi (1918)
President of the Directorate Volodymyr Vynnychenko (1918–19)