CURRENT THREATS NEAR THE BORDERS OF UKRAINE AND THEIR POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine is one of the main threats and challenges to the national security of Ukraine. Ukrainian society is already tired of long-term impossibility to resolve the issue of ending the war, thus there has been a tendency in favor of direct negotiations with a neighboring country, namely the Russian Federation, with the social opinion supporting such procedure for resolving a sensitive issue. The Minsk agreements have failed and in the near future will fail in finding a positive solution to the armed conflict in favor of one of the parties, and Ukrainian society is divided over the consistent implementation of their measures. Some people have an extremely negative attitude to the implementation of certain provisions, others support their implementation, while a third of the society generally votes for the separation of Donbass from Ukraine. Although the armed conflict is formally happening between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the illegal military formations of the DPR/LPR, it has a much deeper and more complex structure. Given the lack of national unity in the state regarding the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas, an important issue arises regarding the beginning of a socio-political dialogue within Ukraine and the development of effective mechanisms for state response to threats to national security. Holding open and transparent discussions between all regions of Ukraine, between two neighboring countries, taking into account the socio-economic situation, cultural and family ties, will provide an opportunity to develop common ways to solve aggravated problems supported by the majority of society.