Advances in scientific and technological progress, in the field of socio-humanitarian knowledge give grounds to the military-political elite of most Western countries to believe that the types of weapons and methods of their use should be adequate to the scale of hostilities.Therefore, the idea of developing the so-called humane, non-lethal weapon (NW) came to the fore, which was put forward for the first time in the United States and actively supported by many members of the intellectual elite. An additional impetus in the development of emergencies was added by the presence of a wide field of application of such weapons to combat smuggling, terrorism and drug trafficking.Limiting casualties among the civilian population during a joint operation in eastern Ukraine is a very important factor in addressing the challenges facing the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the future.Today, hostilities often acquire a completely different, not explicit character, as it was in the twentieth century. Modern hostilities are conducted at a higher level, which affects in addition to the armed forces and diplomatic channels information, socio-cultural, ideological, technological spheres, as well as science, psychology and the inner world of man.The armed forces of states can be involved in a large number of operations that differ from traditional hostilities. Street protests, pogroms and mass demonstrations, which turn into civil wars, "asymmetric conflicts", and hostilities in the urban environment necessitate an increase in the existing arsenal of means of armed struggle. The range of threats related to terrorism and regional military conflicts is expanding.Such hostilities often try to be presented as a "lossless war", as a "safe" war, a contactless armed struggle with the latest military technology and high-precision weapons, which eliminates or reduces the number of civilian casualties.As of today, there is a significant increase in the urgent need to increase control over irregular warfare in such a way as to minimize civilian casualties, and the military is therefore paying attention to new forms of non-lethal weapons that have become available in recent years.Based on the analysis of trends in modern armed struggle, to reduce casualties among the civilian population during the joint force operation in eastern Ukraine, the article analyzes the main prerequisites for the development of emergencies and features that determine the need for it in the weapons system of various security forces.A brief review of views and approaches to the classification of such weapons, using methods of analysis, assessed the types of emergencies based on physical, chemical and biological principles of influence, to consider trends in the use of this type of weapon. The work allows to determine the directions of further research, development of practical recommendations and widespread implementation in the defense sector of non-lethal weapons and methodology of its use, creating the conditions necessary to obtain real results in the shortest possible time. The use of emergency situations will significantly reduce casualties among the civilian population.