Background. According to the research results, patients with type 2 diabetes have steady changes in various parts of the immune system: cellular, humoral, phagocytic activity. Hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, and adaptive hyperinsulinemia affect the cells of the immune system leading to the development of metabolic immunosuppression and forming a stable immunological disorder. The purpose of the research is to study the morphometric and morphofunctional state of peripheral blood leukocytes in patients with type 2 diabetes in order to determine their significance in the development of purulent inflammatory diseases of soft tissues. Materials and methods. In this work, an analysis was carried out of morphometric, cytohistochemical and laboratory findings of the control (20 healthy volunteers) and the main group (47 patients with suppurative soft tissue diseases on the background of type 2 diabetes), with the statistical processing of the obtained data. Results. The study of morphofunctional features of nonspecific and specific defense cells in purulent inflammatory diseases of soft tissues on the background of type 2 diabetes showed that the main cause of diabetic complications are the revealed changes in the bactericidal activity of segmented neutrophils. The trend of white blood cell differential indicators and the distribution curve of mononuclear cells by size, as well as the growth of the lymphocytic-granulocytic index indicate a chronic formation of endotoxins on the background of type 2 diabetes. Conclusions. Lowering the level of cationic neutrophil proteins, the activity of myeloperoxidase and the nitroblue tetrazolium test under stimulation of neutrophil granulocytes by lectins is a sign of unsatisfactory state of the bactericidal cell system, which may be the cause of chronic and acute inflammatory processes in the body that accompany type 2 diabetes leading to a functional exhaustion of the macrophage link of the immune defense.