Efficiency of the State’s Defence Function as a Prerequisite for Ensuring National Security

Abstract

The article considers certain aspects of the defence function of the state and formulates its importance for ensuring national security. The author argues that Russian aggression against Ukraine has influenced the formation of a new paradigm of national security. It is established that a conceptual shift in the national security paradigm requires not only acknowledging the fact of Russian aggression but also rethinking the concept itself, taking into account the experiences of leading foreign countries. The study concludes that national security should be viewed as a legal category that characterises a certain level of protection of vital interests, rights and freedoms of an individual, society and the State from external and internal threats.
The article states the fact that the national military policy has serious shortcomings which reduce Ukraine’s defence capability. The author proves that the defence function of the State in the area of mobilisation policy has not been properly implemented in Ukraine not due to the lack of a law-making form, but mainly due to poor law enforcement. The author concludes that law-making activities (on the example of draft law No. 12442 of 27 January 2025) are another attempt to distort the criminal law policy of the State which will not solve the problem of violations in the mobilisation sphere. The article emphasises that the presence of diametrically opposed court rulings is a key indicator of how the authorities respond to breaches by officials of the legal procedures for conscripting individuals during mobilisation.
Based on the analysis of court practice, the author proposes to define a new ground for discharge of servicemen from military service during martial law by adding subparagraph «g» of paragraph 2 of Part 4 of Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine «On General Military Duty and Military Service» of 25 March 1992, as follows: «in connection with the entry into force of a court decision that declared unlawful the procedure of calling a person liable for military service during mobilization». To implement the principle of fairness in the course of mobilisation training and mobilisation, the author suggests using the US selective military service system