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State Border Guard Service Державна прикордонна служба
Service emblem
Service flag
Abbreviation	SBGS / ДПСУ
Agency overview
Formed	July 31, 2003
Preceding agency	State Committee for Protection of the State Border of Ukraine
Employees	~ 60 000 (2022)
Jurisdictional structure
National agency	Ukraine
Operations jurisdiction	Ukraine
General nature	Gendarmerie
Specialist jurisdiction	National border patrol, security, and integrity.
Operational structure
Headquarters	26, Volodymyrska st, Kyiv
Agency executive	Serhii Deineko, Head of the SBGS
Parent agency	Ministry of Internal Affairs
Child agency	Ukrainian Sea Guard
Notables
Significant operations	Siege of the Luhansk Border Base Attack on Snake Island
Website
dpsu.gov.ua

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS; Ukrainian: Державна Прикордонна Служба України, romanized: Derzhavna Prykordonna Sluzhba Ukrainy; abbr. ДПСУ, DPSU) is the border guard of Ukraine. It is an independent law enforcement agency, organized by the Constitution of Ukraine as a military formation, the head of which is subordinated to the President of Ukraine.

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 State Border Guard Service includes the Ukrainian Sea Guard, which is the country's coast guard. It is also responsible for running Temporary Detention Centres, in which refugees are held.

History

Ukrainian border guards are the national successors of the Soviet Border Troops. 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 and Belarus were not guarded; the Border Troops were only deployed along the western borders (minus Moldova) and on the Black Sea. Another 9,000 personnel were added to the Border Troops at the expense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 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 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 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 was besieged by a troop of Luhansk People's Republic 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 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 Lytvyn
• 2014–2017: Viktor Nazarenko
• 2017–2019: Petro Tsyhykal
• 2019–present: Serhii Deineko

Military ranks

Uniform

• Patch
• Cockade
• Officers cocarde
• Privates cocarde

Long service medal

• 25 years in service
• 20 years in service
• 15 years in service
• 10 years in service

Equipment

Model	Image	Origin	Variant	Number	Details
Anti-tank
Stugna-P		Ukraine
NLAW		Sweden  United Kingdom		Several hundred	Used by the Luhansk border guards.
SPG-9		Soviet Union  Bulgaria	SPG-9M ATGL-H		Bulgarian made rifles are also used.
Artillery
BS-3		Soviet Union			Reactivated after the 2022 Russian invasion.
RAK-12		Croatia	RAK-SA-12
ZU-23-2		Soviet Union  Poland	ZU-23-2CP		Used on static positions or mounted on trucks.
Armoured personnel carrier
BM Triton [uk]		Ukraine		63
Roshel Senator		Canada			Used by the Chernihiv border guards.
M113		United States		50	Purchased by the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and energy sector companies.
MRAP
Kozak		Ukraine	Kozak-2	17
KRAZ Cougar		Canada  Ukraine		3+
Alvis 4		South Africa  United Kingdom		7	Donated by Estonia.
Logistics and utility vehicles
Ural-4320		Soviet Union	Medium truck
ZiL-131			Medium truck
GAZ-66			Medium truck (2 tonnes)
KamAZ-5320			Heavy truck (8 tonnes)
KamAZ-4310			Heavy truck (6 tonnes)
KAMAZ-43114		Russia	Heavy truck (6 tonnes)		Purchased prior to the Russo-Ukrainian war.
KrAZ-257		Soviet Union	Heavy truck (12 tonnes)
KrAZ-255B			Heavy truck (12 tonnes)
KrAZ-260			Heavy truck
KrAZ-6322		Ukraine	Heavy truck
KrAZ-6510			Dump truck
KrAZ-5233			Heavy truck (6 tonnes)
IVECO Trakker		Italy	Dump truck		Donated by Germany.
Mercedes Benz Unimog		Germany	Truck		Donated by Germany.
UAZ-3163		Russia	Off-road vehicle
Land Rover Defender		UK	Off-road vehicle	55
Volkswagen Amarok		Germany	Off-road vehicle	20
Toyota Land Cruiser 200		Japan	Off-road vehicle	20
Dacia Duster		France  Romania	Off-road vehicle	10
UAZ-3303		Russia	Off-road vehicle
Mitsubishi L200		Japan	Off-road vehicle	40	Donated by the US in 2021.
UAZ-3962		Russia
Volkswagen Transporter		Germany	Bus	10
Ford Transit		USA	Bus	10
Bogdan A092		Ukraine	Bus
ЛАЗ-695		Soviet Union	Bus
Rosenbauer Panther		Austria	Airport crash tender	2	Donated by Germany.
Other vehicles
Bombardier Outlander 400 MAX		Canada		100
Polaris 600 IQ Touring		Canada		50
Caterpillar 336-08		United States		1	Donated by Germany.
Aircraft
Antonov An-8		Soviet Union			Used by the Sea Guard.
Antonov An-24		Soviet Union			Used by the Sea Guard.
Antonov An-26		Soviet Union			Used by the Sea Guard.
Antonov An-72		Soviet Union			Used by the Sea Guard.

Gallery

See also

• Border control
• State Border of Ukraine
• Security Service of Ukraine
• List of national border guard agencies

References

1. "Мільйон українців у формі захищає Україну від росіян". July 9, 2022.
2. "Official website of the authority.Contact Us". 2017.
3. "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №403/2019". Official website of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2019-06-14.
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5. Leonid Polyakov, 'Paramilitary Structures in Ukraine,' Almanac on Security Sector Governance in Ukraine 2010, 143-144, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.
6. "Фотографии с места катастрофы самолета Diamond DA-42 в Закарпатье". Reporter UA. July 5, 2012.
7. Qena, Nebi (2014-06-04). "6 militants killed, 3 Ukrainian troops injured in Luhansk fighting". CTVNews. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
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37. «ЗакарпатевроТранс II» переоборудовал авто на спецзаказ от Госпогранслужбы Archived 2016-01-16 at the Wayback Machine
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40. "Прикордонники їдуть на східний кордон. Хмельницький" – via www.youtube.com.
41. Pryma, Andrew (9 February 2022). "Ukrainian State border guards received the first batch of SUVs from the USA". UBN. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
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45. "MORE THAN 500 BUS RIDES HAVE BEEN ORGANISED TO TRANSPORT 22,000 CITIZENS WHO CAME TO THE BORDER ON FOOT". dpsu.gov.ua. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
46. "Просмотр фотографии". transit.parovoz.com.
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External links

• Official website
• Agency's history page on official website

• Border guards
• Borders of Ukraine
• State Border Guard Service of Ukraine