| National Police of Ukraine Національна поліція України | |
|---|---|
 Patch of the National Police | |
 Emblem of the National Police | |
 Badge of the National Police | |
 Flag of the National Police | |
| Common name | Police of Ukraine |
| Abbreviation | NPU |
| Motto | To serve and protect (Служити та захищати) |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | July 3, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-07-03) |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Employees | 130,000
|
| Annual budget | ₴35.6 billion (2022) |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| National agency | Ukraine |
| Operations jurisdiction | Ukraine |
| Size | 603,629 km2 |
| Population | 44 million (approx.) |
| Governing body | Government of Ukraine |
| Constituting instrument |
|
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Overseen by | Ministry of Internal Affairs |
| Headquarters | 10, Academician Bohomolets str.,Kyiv, Ukraine[1] |
| Agency executive |
|
| Facilities | |
| Patrol cars | Toyota Prius Hyundai Sonata Renault Duster Mitsubishi Outlander Škoda Rapid ZAZ Vida Lada 110 VAZ-21099 UAZ Patriot Lada Niva VAZ 2107 ZAZ Forza VAZ-2113 Fiat Tipo VAZ-2114 VAZ-2115 |
| Notables | |
| Anniversary |
|
| Website | |
| npu | |
TheNational Police of Ukraine (Ukrainian:Націона́льна полі́ція Украї́ни,romanized: Natsionalna politsiia Ukrainy,IPA:[nɐts⁽ʲ⁾ioˈnɑlʲnɐpoˈl⁽ʲ⁾its⁽ʲ⁾ijɐʊkrɐˈjinɪ];abbr.НПУ/NPU[ˌɛnpeˈu]), often simply referred to as thePolitsiia (Поліція,'Police'), is the national, and only,police service ofUkraine. It was formed on 3 July 2015, as part of the post-Euromaidan reforms launched by Ukrainian presidentPetro Poroshenko, to replace Ukraine's previous national police service, theMilitsiya.[4][5] On 7 November 2015, all the remainingmilitsiya were labelled "temporaryacting" members of the National Police.[4]
The agency is overseen by theMinistry of Internal Affairs.[6]
Prior to 3 July 2015,law enforcement in Ukraine was carried out directly by the Ministry of Internal Affairs as themilitsiya. Plans to reform the ministry, which was widely known to be corrupt, had been advocated by various governments and parties, but these plans were never realised.[5][7]
In the aftermath of the 2013–2014Euromaidan movement andsubsequent revolution, the need for reform was acknowledged by all parties. Parliamentary elections were held inOctober 2014, after which all five of the parties that formed thegoverning coalition pledged to reform the ministry and create a new national police service.[8]
As part of the reforms, the Minister of Internal Affairs,Arsen Avakov, presented plans to reduce the number of police officers in Ukraine to 160,000 by the end of 2015.[9] The reform plans started with the combination of the ministry's current State Auto Inspection (DAI) and the patrol service in the country's capitalKyiv in summer 2015.[10][11] This new police patrol received funding from various countries.[12] 2,000 new policemen and women, picked from 33,000 applicants, were recruited to initiate the new service in Kyiv. Officers were trained in the North American style by police officers from theUnited States andCanada.[13]
Upon the launch of Kyiv's new patrol police on 4 July 2015, themilitsiya ceased all patrolling but continued working at precincts and administrative offices.[14][12][15] After that the new police patrol was rolled out across Ukraine.[12] The organisation was formally established as the National Police on 2 September 2015.[6] By late September 2015, 2,000 new constables were on duty in Kyiv, 800 were on duty inKharkiv and 1,700 were on duty in the cities ofOdesa andLviv.[16][14] At this point, themilitsiya was 152,000 officers strong, and continued to handle most policing across Ukraine.[17] The basic salary of the new police force (almost $400 a month) is about three times as much the basic salary of the formermilitsiya; an attempt to decreasecorruption.[18]
The new National Police officially replaced the oldmilitsiya on 7 November 2015.[4][19] On that day, the remainingmilitsiya were labelled "temporarilyacting" members of the National Police.[4] The change allowed for them to become members of the National Police after "integrity checks", but they were only eligible if they met the age criteria and went through retraining.[4][20] This transition period ended on 20 October 2016.[21] In this transition period 26% of police commanders were dismissed and 4,400 policemen and policewomen demoted and the same number of people promoted.[21]
Ukrayinska Pravda collected (from open sources) 64 crimes allegedly committed by Ukrainian police officers from 1 January 2020 until 30 May 2020.[22] Cases ranged from extortion to rape to killings.[22]
The NPU was assisted by the EU Advisory Mission Ukraine between 2017 and 2022 through the PRAVO Police Programme, implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), in an effort to modernize Ukrainian law enforcement to European standards.[23][24]
On 14 February 2022, the National Police was transferred to combat alert, as a response to theRussian military buildup and threat of the invasion.[25] The National Police and its tactical unitRapid Operational Response Unit directly participated in hostilities against the invadingRussian Armed Forces at theKyiv offensive.[26] As the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine progressed, the National Police helped in the war effort by maintaining law and order in Ukrainian-controlled areas, escorting prisoners, operatingcheckpoints, capturing infiltrators and detainingprisoners of war.[27][28] By 1 March, 17 policemen were killed, 50 injured and 2missing in action.[28]
In February 2023, the MIA ordered the raising of8 new assault brigades to support the Ukrainian war effort, one of those new brigades, theLiut Brigade, is the only one so far made up of officers, NCOs and constables of the NPU's Special Police. In 2024, three additional brigades were added as directly reporting under NPU Headquarters.
According to Professor Oleksandr Ponomariv of theKyiv University's Institute of Journalism, the correct Ukrainian language term for a police officer is 'politsiyant'(поліціянт). This is in contrast to the term 'politseysky'(поліцейський), a loan word from the Russian language, commonly used to refer to an officer of the National Police.
Ranks are rarely used by the public when addressing police officers in Ukraine; it is more common to hear the term Pan(Пан) (female - Pani(Пані) - Ukrainian for mister/miss - used to refer to police officers. Qualifying terms such as 'ofitser'(офіцер) or 'politseiskyi'(поліцейський) may also be used in conjunction with these forms of address.
The National Police is divided into a number of different services. Each force has internal subdivisions. This leaves the police service with a large number of specialised branches which can more specifically target certain types of crime and apply more expert knowledge in the investigation of cases relating to their area of policing. In addition to these specific groups, all police forces retain a majority of officers for the purpose of patrol duty and general law enforcement.
The police contains the following subdivisions:[29]
In addition, the following special units exist:
| Territorial force | Date of formation | |
|---|---|---|
| Oblast /Municipality | Police force | |
 City of Kyiv |  Kyiv Patrol Police | 4 July 2015[30] |
 City of Lviv |  Lviv Patrol Police | 23 August 2015[31] |
 City of Odesa |  Odesa Patrol Police | 25 August 2015[32] |
 City of Kharkiv |  Kharkiv Patrol Police | 26 September 2015[16] |
 Kyiv Oblast |  Kyiv Oblast Patrol Police | 7 October 2015[33] |
 City of Uzhhorod |  Uzhhorod Patrol Police | 29 November 2015[34] |
 City of Mukacheve |  Mukacheve Patrol Police | 29 November 2015[34] |
 City of Mykolaiv |  Mykolaiv Patrol Police | 6 December 2015[35][36] |
 City of Lutsk |  Lutsk Patrol Police | 19 December 2015[37] |
 City of Khmelnytskyi |  Khmelnytskyi Patrol Police | 26 December 2015[38] |
 City of Dnipro |  Dnipro Patrol Police | 17 January 2016[39] |
 City of Ivano-Frankivsk |  Ivano-Frankivsk Patrol Police | 30 January 2016[40] |
 City of Kherson |  Kherson Patrol Police | 8 February 2016[41] |
 City of Chernihiv |  Chernihiv Patrol Police | 19 February 2016[42] |
 City of Vinnytsia |  Vinnytsia Patrol Police | 22 February 2016[43] |
 City of Kremenchuk |  Kremenchuk Patrol Police | 27 February 2016[44] |
 City of Cherkasy |  Cherkasy Patrol Police | 1 March 2016[45] |
 City of Poltava |  Poltava Patrol Police | 5 March 2016[46] |
 City of Ternopil |  Ternopil Patrol Police | 12 March 2016[47] |
 City of Zhytomyr | .svg) Zhytomyr Patrol Police | 22 March 2016[48] |
 City of Boryspil |  Boryspil Patrol Police | 24 March 2016[49] |
 City of Chernivtsi |  Chernivtsi Patrol Police | 27 March 2016[50] |
 City of Zaporizhia |  Zaporizhia Patrol Police | 16 April 2016[51] |
 City of Rivne |  Rivne Patrol Police | 19 April 2016[52] |
 City of Kropyvnytskyi |  Kropyvnytskyi Patrol Police | 28 April 2016[53] |
 City of Sumy |  Sumy Patrol Police | 12 May 2016[54] |
 City of Kramatorsk | .png) Kramatorsk Patrol Police | 14 May 2016[55] |
 City of Sloviansk | .png) Sloviansk Patrol Police | 14 May 2016[55] |
 City of Kryvyi Rih | .png) Kryvyi Rih Patrol Police | 19 May 2016[56] |
 Sievierodonetsk |  Sievierodonetsk Patrol Police | 22 May 2016[57] |
 Lysychansk | .png) Lysychansk Patrol Police | 22 May 2016[57] |
 Rubizhne | Rubizhne Patrol Police | 22 May 2016[57] |
 Mariupol |  Mariupol Patrol Police | 30 May 2016[58] |
| Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff officers | Supervisory officers | Senior officers | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 National Police of Ukraine[59] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||||||
| Генерал поліції 1-го рангу Henerál políciji 1-ho rángu | Генерал поліції 2-го рангу Henerál políciji 2-ho rángu | Генерал поліції 3-го рангу Henerál políciji 3-ho rángu | Полковник Polkovnyk | Підполковник Pidpolkovnyk | Майор Maior | Капітан Kapitan | Старший лейтенант Starshyi leitenant | Лейтенант Leitenant | Молодший лейтенант Molodshyi leitenant | |||||||||||||||
| General 1st rank | General 2nd rank | General 3rd rank | Colonel | Lieutenant colonel | Major | Kapitan | Senior lieutenant | Lieutenant | Junior lieutenant | |||||||||||||||
| Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Police of Ukraine[59] |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Старший сержант Starshyi serzhant | Сержант Serzhant | Капрал Kaprál | Рядовий Rjadovýj | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior sergeant | Sergeant | Corporal | Private | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Officers wear a camera that is constantly monitoring their performances.[14] The resulting videos are posted onsocial media and broadcast on areality TV show.[14]
| Picture | Make and model | Country of origin | Use | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Eurocopter EC145 |  France | Helicopter | 10 | |
 | Robinson R44 |  United States | Helicopter | 1 | Is used to maintain public order during mass events |
National Police Day (День Націона́льної полі́ції,Denʹ Nacionálʹnoyi políciyi,Ukrainian pronunciation:[dɛnʲnɐt͡s⁽ʲ⁾ioˈnɑlʲnojipoˈl⁽ʲ⁾it͡s⁽ʲ⁾iji]) on 4 July[63] is the professional holiday of the Ukrainian Police. It commemorates the suspension of law enforcement duties by the Militsiya and the establishment of the National Police of Ukraine. It also coincides with the first oath of patrol policemen on Kyiv's Sofia Square. The holiday was introduced and first celebrated on 4 August 2015 and was celebrated on that day ever since until PresidentPetro Poroshenko, by decree on 4 April 2018, declared that the holiday should be celebrated annually on 4 July and become a national holiday.[64]
Media related toPolice of Ukraine at Wikimedia Commons
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