Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to present practical options for advancing Ukraine’s security sector capabilities to consolidate peace and stability as the country transitions from war to peace; the United States Institute of Peace does not take specific policy positions or advocate for specific forms of assistance. Although winning the war rightly remains Ukraine’s highest priority, this report focuses on the security sector issues at the heart of the country’s ability to win the peace. These include tackling corruption; holding the perpetrators of war crimes accountable; integrating veterans into society; and strengthening civilian security.
Winning the peace is also essential for achieving US strategic aims and interests. Ukraine represents a pivotal flank for the United States and its NATO partners. Investing in Ukraine’s capacity to consolidate peace and stability after the war solidifies the US-led coalition of democracies, allies, and partners and supplements NATO’s efforts to strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank.
Advancing Ukraine’s security sector capabilities to consolidate peace and stability will strengthen Ukraine’s position as a net security provider capable of directly contributing to US alliances and partnerships and protect the integrity of the strategic investments in Ukraine’s security sector made by the United States over the last decade. US and allied support for these reforms will send a strong message to long-term strategic competitors that the United States and its allies and partners can act with coherence and resilience to protect their strategic interests.
The policy options presented in this report are derived from extensive fieldwork; qualitative analysis of official documents; and consultations with Ukrainian, American, and international officials and experts. The report’s analysis and policy conclusions were shaped by multiple discussions with interdisciplinary expert groups, whose members have performed the invaluable role of assessing conditions, challenging assumptions, sharing best practices, and evaluating options for their impact and feasibility.
The report outlines a wide variety of concrete policy options designed to support Ukraine’s security sector as the country transitions from war to peace. These options—both overarching and targeted—identify high-value actions to that end.
Overarching Policy Options
The report outlines five overarching actions.
- Develop an overarching postwar security sector reform framework. Establish principles, a long-term vision, and action steps that build on Ukraine’s 2023–2027 Overarching Strategic Plan for the Reform of the Entire Law Enforcement Sector.
- Establish a postwar security sector coordination platform tied to the G7 Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. This platform would coordinate postwar security sector assistance to Ukraine.
- Conduct a comprehensive public expenditure assessment of the postwar security sector. This assessment would include clear and detailed cost projections of Ukraine’s postwar security sector needs, as well as pragmatic projections of Ukraine’s postwar capacity to finance its security sector.
- Support the adoption of technological innovations, including ones supported by artificial intelligence (AI). This adoption would address potential gaps in the capabilities of the security sector to deliver services to Ukrainians.
- Continuously monitor security sector needs and citizens’ expectations. Conduct quarterly surveys of citizens’ justice and security needs across demographic groups and geographic locations. Use the resulting information to shape and prioritize reforms.
Targeted Options
Chapters 1 through 4 offer targeted policy options for supporting Ukraine’s security sector. Chapter 5 summarizes these options.
Chapter 1. Fighting Corruption to Secure Ukraine’s Future
The report’s findings center on reforms that would meet both the letter and the spirit of Ukraine’s public commitments to ending corruption. They reflect three priorities:
- Reinforce weakened anticorruption mechanisms
- Address corruption within the security sector
- Address elite capture of the security sector
Some of the policy options outlined in this report offer macro solutions—such as balancing transparency with classification of sensitive security information. In other cases, the options pinpoint leverage points that could spur positive change. For example, supporting Ukraine in doubling the number of detectives employed by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine can help curtail corruption at the highest levels of government. The report identifies ways that Ukraine and international donors can attack the problem of corruption from multiple angles, thereby helping to satisfy the demand for reform from the Ukrainian public and donors.
Chapter 2. Rebalancing the Scales of Justice
Judicial reform is crucial for Ukraine’s future as a stable and peaceful state. The following priorities emerged as building blocks toward this larger goal:
- Commit to meaningful and transparent judicial reform
- Restore residents’ access to justice services
- Manage public expectations around accountability for war crimes
- Deliver accountability for atrocity crimes
- Rebuild social cohesion by adopting an inclusive approach to justice
These policy options seek to address Ukraine’s high public demand for justice, whether from victims of war crimes or from those struggling to gain access to basic legal and judicial services. Given the diversity of Ukrainian justice needs, meeting these challenges requires an all-encompassing view of justice, one that includes traditional governmental services, such as courts, as well as nonjudicial tools. This chapter thus has a wide purview, covering, for example, digitizing court records to allow legal actions to proceed in areas disrupted by fighting and using innovative methods for prioritizing and prosecuting war crimes trials.
Chapter 3. Supporting Veterans and Security Governance
This chapter focuses on the defense realm and the following priorities:
- Provide inclusive support to Ukraine’s veterans
- Strengthen governance and transparency in the Ministry of Defense
- Formalize Ukraine’s voluntary national defense organizations
- Enhance military justice
Veterans issues are certain to demand considerable attention from Ukraine’s defense sector. More than 1 million Ukrainian men and women serving today will transition out of active duty in the coming years, with needs for physical and psychosocial assistance. This chapter explores this challenge at the institutional level, where jurisdictional and other issues complicate the provision of services to Ukrainian veterans. The chapter also looks at this challenge from the perspective of future veterans and their families and investigates the variety of ways that their needs can be met most efficiently. Taking a wider view, this report examines how Ukraine can modernize its defense institutions to satisfy the public wish for transparency while meeting the continued challenge of Russian aggression.
Chapter 4. Supporting Civilian Law Enforcement
Civilian law enforcement officers—including local police officers, security service officers, and state border guards—have played a valuable role during the war and could play an equally important role in securing peace. This chapter discusses how this transition can be most effectively managed, focusing on the following priorities:
- Confront challenges to policing in a changed security environment
- Actively prepare to police de-occupied territory
- Reinvigorate law enforcement reform
This chapter takes stock of the ways that the war and its aftermath will challenge law enforcement. For example, police officers who have been serving as soldiers will need to be retrained to handle civilian missions and related procedures. The chapter also touches on the role of Ukraine’s parliament—the Verkhovna Rada—and government ministries in clarifying policy, such as determining which collaboration infractions do and do not merit prosecution. Actions such as these will allow enforcement of high-profile crimes to be standardized across Ukraine while allowing flexibility to respond to local needs.