From now on, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will no longer have shoulder straps with braided stripes, five-pointed stars and gaps, introduced in the Russian imperial army back in 1827-1843, from which, after a break for “de-imperialization” in 1918-1943, they safely migrated to the Soviet army, and then to the Russian one.” On July 5, President Petro Poroshenko approved a new uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the shoulder straps of which a diamond-shaped sign will appear. Since the topic is not only important, but also directly affects many Ukrainians, the heated discussion regarding the innovation did not slow down. Ukrinform decided to join it.

THE VERMACHT HAS NOTHING TO DO HERE

The Internet immediately found both supporters and opponents of the changes introduced by the President. The first accused the developers of the fact that the new shoulder straps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine resembled the shoulder straps of Hitler's Wehrmacht. Kiev journalist Andrey Kislov writes on his Facebook page: “Miracles of “decommunization.” Find the differences... On the left are new Ukrainian shoulder straps, and on the right are the shoulder straps of an officer of the Third Reich.” (Fig. 1)

Rice. 1.

Well, firstly, there are a lot of differences - shape, size, color, braid, and fastenings. The only common thing is diamonds instead of the “Soviet-American” five-pointed stars. But similar insignia are used not only in German, but also in many other armies of the world.

Actually, on the Internet, not everyone agrees with the statement about the similarity of the shoulder straps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with Hitler’s: “What is the Third Reich here for? And the Kaiser’s shoulder straps had such stars, and even the GDR’s. Well, you know the story. Why these horror stories and manipulations?” notes Radio Liberty journalist Dmitry Shturkhalo.

MILITARY TRADITIONS OF THE WORLD COUNTRIES

Actually, such things are very dependent on tradition and history. Identification marks of many countries around the world have many common features. For example, Pakistan was a colony of Great Britain. Now look at fig. 2. Figure out where the shoulder straps of the British army are here, and where - the Pakistani one? Here's a hint: on the left are Pakistani shoulder straps, on the right are British ones. Apparently, the British colonialists got the Pakistanis less than the Russians got us.


Rice. 2.

Tradition is a great force. The shoulder straps of the armies of the German Empire - the Reichswehr, the German Democratic Republic (an ally of the Soviet Union under the Warsaw Pact), the Bundeswehr of modern Germany - have many common features with Hitler's Wehrmacht. Soviet veterans did not calmly contemplate the allies, “one to one similar to the fascists.” Here, to illustrate what has been said, look at Fig. 3.


Rice. 3.

TRADITIONS OF INSIGNIA OF THE UKRAINIAN ARMY

The Ukrainian army also has its own tradition dating back to the times of the Zaporozhye Sich. And it’s easy to notice: when developing new shoulder straps and insignia for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they were taken into account. For example, for the shoulder straps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, traditional chevrons were taken - with an upward angle, which were used in the systems of military recognition signs of the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian Galician Army (by no means the Third Reich). Changes also occurred in the insignia of the categories of senior and senior officers: based on the weaving of the shoulder straps of senior officers of the UGA of 1918 and on the basis of the ornament from the buttonholes of the generals of the UGA of 1919 (based on folk embroidery), respectively. See Fig. 4


Rice. 4.

Well, to finish about the tradition of military uniforms. When last year a new headdress was introduced for the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the Mazepinka cap - voices were also heard that this was supposedly taken from Hitler’s uniforms. And look at the painting by the great Russian artist Ilya Repin “Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan.” Pay attention to the hat of Ataman Sirko. Now look at the modern Mazepinka of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the winter hats of modern Ukrainian officers. (Fig. 5.) So where does the motive come from?


Rice. 5.

AND NOW THE QUESTION

  • Why was it necessary to introduce so many ranks of private and sergeant (non-officer) - as many as 10? It was - 7. (See Fig. 6) Firstly, it’s easy to get confused. And secondly, naturally such a number of ranks led to the complexity of the insignia themselves. For example: the rank of chief master sergeant (Fig. 6) is such a complex set of insignia that it is difficult to imagine how it will look on field, not on front, shoulder straps.

Rice. 6.
  • What will the difference between a lieutenant and a lieutenant colonel look like on field uniform? (Fig. 7) Or between the cornet and the major? A golden stripe of weaving, which stands out brightly on ceremonial shoulder straps, is simply inappropriate on field uniforms, and if it is a khaki color, no one will notice it. On the “old” shoulder straps this was visible due to two “differences” - the gaps on the shoulder straps and the size of the star. Now there is only one “difference” left - the stripe.

Rice. 7.
  • The appearance of a new rank - brigadier general - introduces some confusion: previously major general was the lowest general rank, now will brigade general be the lowest? Of course, such a military rank exists in most NATO armies, except for Norway and Slovenia, where there is simply a brigadier. However, if we approach the issue from a purely pragmatic aspect, then the introduction of new military ranks will require considerable costs. It will be necessary to replace a lot of papers, ranging from documentation from the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to personal documents of military personnel. Therefore, the question arises: does the Ukrainian army really need a brigadier general?

Miroslav Liskovich. Kyiv

Diana Mikhailova, independent military expert

It is quite difficult to escape the feeling that all the efforts of Ukrainian leaders aimed at “leaving Russia” demonstrate either their absolute professional unsuitability or the achievement of completely opposite results, and in this case any practical benefit for the Ukrainian people is completely unattainable.

The message about the approval by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of new insignia for the armed forces was no exception: the five-pointed Soviet star on shoulder straps will be replaced by a rhombus. Photos of the shoulder straps of a lieutenant, senior lieutenant and captain with new insignia were posted on his Facebook by a freelance adviser to the president Yuri Biryukov.(As you know, until now in the army of Ukraine, as well as in Russia, the Soviet system of insignia for officer ranks has been adopted).

He also notified that the new shoulder straps could be seen on Ukraine’s Independence Day on August 24, and commented on the labor intensity and complexity of this decision:

“This painstaking work was carried out for more than a year. The whole bouquet of due “attention” from ill-wishers - intrigues, scandals, gossip, complaints. And the painstaking work of a group of enthusiasts.

Biryukov also published a photocopy of the title page of the document “Uniform items and insignia of the armed forces of Ukraine,” approved by the president and agreed upon by the entire large team of co-authors who “painstakingly for more than a year” created it.

Screenshot from Yuri Biryukov's Facebook

Title page of the document "Uniform items and insignia of the armed forces of Ukraine"

Thus, according to the authors’ plans, the long-awaited decommunization of military personnel’s shoulder straps took place. A fundamental theoretical basis was also provided for it. Now the stars will be replaced by a rhombus, in the center of which there is a circle with rays diverging in four directions.


Theoretical basis for decommunization of shoulder straps of the Ukrainian military

As follows from the above illustration, the history of the issue goes back to the shoulder straps of the Ukrainian Army in 1918 and ... the Galician Army in 1919, and the “diamond-shaped star” was approved back in 1992 by the commission for the development of military symbols in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. That is, the duration of the painful process of “decommunization” is not even “more than a year,” as Biryukov said, but is comparable to the entire period of the modern history of Ukraine!

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The main paradox of such a long-nurtured decision is that the five-pointed stars on the shoulder straps - symbols of the damned Soviet past - were replaced with even more Russian signs! As is known, five-pointed stars as rank distinctions are not a Soviet invention. They were introduced into the tsarist army by order of January 1, 1827, that is, they were not formally and legally subject to “decommunization.” That is, in this case we should rather talk about another attempt at “de-Russification”, bashfully covered up by slogans of the fight against the “damned Soviet past”! But even this, not very honorable, task was completed by the volunteer group, working on instructions from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, exactly the opposite.

The diamond-shaped stars proposed by Ukrainian military historians and reenactors, approved the day before by the highest military-political leadership of Ukraine, which are intended to replace the “communist” five-pointed ones, were first introduced in the Prussian army by decree of His Majesty’s Cabinet of February 27, 1830. The Prussian War Ministry presented at the end of 1829 Mr. His Majesty has several options for such “stars” for approval: five-pointed, six-pointed, eight-pointed and round in the shape of a “sun”. Frederick William III criticized and rejected all these projects, and when asked the logical question of what to do then, he became thoughtful and deigned to give the answer that “they should be made rhombic, modeled after... the stars of the Russian Order of St. George.”

As a matter of fact, there was no doubt that the Galician, that is, essentially copied Austrian and German uniform models with reference to certain “traditions of the army of the Ukrainian state” of the 1918 model, would be taken as a model. However, from a historical and aesthetic point of view, even the compilation of incompatible styles that is familiar to current Ukrainian “historians” and “national producers and developers” demonstrates a total inability to solve the most basic problems, not to mention the vital problems of the real, and not invented by pseudo-patriots , the life of the Ukrainian people.

Interview with one of the developers of new insignia and everyday military uniforms for the Ukrainian armed forces, Oleksa Rudykh.

The fabric for the new everyday uniform of Ukrainian military personnel will be supplied by an enterprise from Belarus, and the material for the berets will be supplied by an Indian company.

— New insignia and everyday uniforms for the army were created by a group of six people, of which I am a member,- speaks Honored Artist of Ukraine Oleksa Rudenko. — The head of our creative team was the TV presenter of Channel 5 Vitaly Gaidukevich (as a historian by training, he is seriously interested in military topics). We started work in 2014. In May last year, we presented our developments to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, and after that our group received official status - a corresponding order was issued by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. By the way, do you remember the story about how a few years ago in Russia they entrusted a similar project to couturier Valentin Yudashkin and spent a lot of money on it? So, with us everything was exactly the opposite. We basically worked on a volunteer basis - without pay. We don't even have an office. Everyone worked independently, and in order to reduce the achievements to a common denominator, they periodically gathered in some cafe. We issued a copyright certificate for the uniform and insignia, transferring the rights to it to the Ukrainian army free of charge. At the military parade on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, most units will march along Khreshchatyk wearing the uniforms we have created.

*Olexa Rudenko: “My first two attempts to get the Ukrainian army to adopt a uniform based on national, rather than Soviet, traditions were unsuccessful. But the third one turned out to be effective.” (photo by Sergei Tushinsky, FACTS)

— What is the new uniform of the Ukrainian military?

- This is an English-style jacket - a jacket with patch pockets with flaps on the chest and on the lower sides. We proceeded from the fact that a similar uniform was worn in the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. By the way, the armed forces of the UPR were the first in Eastern Europe to switch to the British cut of the uniform. In our version, the jacket has an open collar, because it is intended to wear a shirt under the jacket.

*The new everyday uniform is an English style French jacket. This is what the uniform looks like (from left to right) of the Ground Forces, Air Forces, Special Operations Forces

The brother of the poet and prose writer Bohdan Lepky, the artist Levko Lepky, was a fighter in the legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen(military formation as part of the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. - Auto.). The legion had a commission on military uniforms. On her instructions, in 1916, Levko Lepky developed the design of a flap on a French jacket pocket - with chopped trapezoidal edges. Similar valves were then worn on the uniforms of soldiers of the Ukrainian Galician Army and the UPR Army. Therefore, the pockets of the jacket we created also have such edges. By the way, Lepky is also the author of the Mazepinka cap. Since last year, a headdress of this cut has become part of the field uniform of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. True, in mass production the Mazepinka did not turn out quite as it was intended. I hope that the production workers will cope with this problem, and the caps will be produced in full accordance with the sample.

— What color are the French jackets you created?

— We abandoned the dark green shade (officially called “wet sagebrush color”) of the current Army uniforms and chose khaki green, which looks much more attractive. The color of the Air Force uniforms will also be different. Now it is deep blue (the same as that of railway workers and civil aviation pilots), but it will be blue-gray. Military sailors will retain the traditional combination of black and white. Recently, Special Operations Forces were created in Ukraine. For them, we developed steel-gray jackets and graphite shirts. All the marks on their uniforms have a special blackened tint. Berets will become the headdress of Special Operations Forces fighters. The sign on them is made in the form of a wolf with a belt, next to which there is a bident - the coat of arms of Prince Svyatoslav the Brave (he is also called Svyatoslav the Conqueror). We chose the image of the wolf based on the legends about the Cossacks-characterniks. According to these legends, some Cossacks (such as Ataman Sirko) could, if necessary, wear a magic belt-nauz, turn into wolves, and then return to human form. As for the bident, the choice for this coat of arms fell because its owner went down in history as a warrior prince.

It is important to say that the cut of uniforms for military personnel of all ranks - from private to general - will be the same. Naturally, you will no longer see stripes, gold embroidery and other similar elements on generals.

— Are special ceremonial uniforms provided?

- No. The difference between everyday and dress uniforms is in the color of the shirts: on special occasions, military personnel will wear white shirts, and on ordinary days - an ash-beige shade (called “tan”). For officers, special belts and aiguillettes are provided as elements of the dress uniform. By the way, when Ukraine becomes richer, I hope it will be possible to introduce the so-called evening uniform - like in the armies of Western countries. This is a very elegant outfit for going out.

— Do you use domestic fabric to sew the jackets you create?

- No. The tender was won by the material (it consists of two-thirds cotton, the rest is synthetic) from a Belarusian manufacturer, who offered products of excellent quality at a very attractive price. The selection of cloth was carried out with the personal participation of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Army General Stepan Poltorak. I would like to note, by the way, that Stepan Trofimovich provided our working group with every assistance.

A foreign enterprise will also become a supplier of fabric for sewing berets. None of the Ukrainian factories participated in the tender because they could not offer the required wool blend fabric. The berets that our military now wear are made from domestically produced material. Unfortunately, the quality of the fabric leaves much to be desired. I know from the military that berets have to be soaked (not only in water, but even in beer) to give them the desired shape.

The global market for fabrics for making such hats is distributed mainly between Indian and Pakistani companies. Our tender was won by a company from India, which supplies its fabric to the British Army.

- What about outerwear?

— We have developed jackets for privates and officers. The dress uniform for officers includes wearing a coat, and for privates and sergeants - a short coat.

— Images of the insignia you designed have already appeared on the Internet. Instead of five-pointed stars, diamond-shaped ones will appear on the shoulder straps. What is the reason for this?

— Because in 1918, the insignia of the soldiers of the army of the Ukrainian state of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky had the shape of an elongated rhombus (officially called the Ukrainian word “zorya”). Their top is faceted, the edges form a cross. These stars had an elongated shape, but those that our working group proposed were square. It must be said that in the army of the UPR and the Ukrainian Galician army there were no shoulder straps - insignia were worn on collars and sleeves. We decided to leave the shoulder straps.

*Epaulettes of a lieutenant (left) and a general of the Ukrainian Army

On the cap of the new model there are signs in the form of a Cossack claw cross. For the Ground Forces it is supplemented with crossed swords, for the Air Forces - with outstretched wings and a sword, for the Naval Forces - with two crossed anchors.

*Such signs will be on the caps of Ukrainian military personnel

— When is the transition to a new daily uniform planned?

— In the next two years, the Ukrainian army will, as it does now, wear field uniforms. During this time, the industry will sew the required number of sets of everyday uniforms and then their mass distribution will begin. And the transition to new insignia will be carried out immediately after the signing of the corresponding order.

*Badge on the beret of a Special Operations Forces soldier

— Will the field uniform of military personnel be changed in the near future?

— Now the vast majority of military personnel wear field uniforms, introduced in 2014. Its colors are called “Ukrainian pixel”. In the near future, a number of elite units will receive a new field uniform with the “Varan Armed Forces of Ukraine” color scheme.

— Will the military rank system remain the same?

- No, it will change partially. Members of our working group raised the issue of changes in the line of ranks last year during a demonstration of samples of the new uniform to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. And he supported us. Following the example of the UPR Army, it is planned to introduce the rank of cornet - instead of junior lieutenant. The ranks of lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel remain. And a new rank is introduced - brigadier general. This is due to the fact that the main units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not regiments and divisions, as was the case in the Soviet army, but brigades - a NATO structure (in the armies of Western countries, brigades are commanded by brigadier generals). However, this will require changes to a number of legislative acts.

Innovations are also provided for the ranks of non-commissioned officers. They will become: corporal (instead of junior sergeant), sergeant, master sergeant, master sergeant, staff sergeant, chief master sergeant and finally the chief master sergeant of the army, who will have the position of Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

— How were responsibilities distributed in your work group?

— The system of insignia was developed by my colleague Alexander Lezhnev, I was mainly involved in military uniforms, historian Nikolai Chmyr became our scientific consultant (he worked for 11 years in the heraldic service of the General Staff of Ukraine), the creation of patterns is the prerogative of a married couple of clothing designers Alexey and Tatyana Sopin. They have their own clothing studio, which for a long time has been sewing costumes and military uniforms of past eras for lovers of historical reconstructions. As I already said, our team is headed by TV presenter Vitaly Gaidukevich. Let me note that our group also created the uniform for the new patrol police.

You know, it’s not for nothing that they say: “God loves the Trinity.” My first two attempts to get the Ukrainian army to adopt a uniform based on national, rather than Soviet, traditions were unsuccessful. But the third one turned out to be effective. I have been involved in military topics since my student years. I am the author of the design of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, developed the emblems of most of the country's security forces and the official symbols of the President of Ukraine.


The design of new uniform items and insignia of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has become known, which were approved by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense and on July 5 were finally approved at the level of the President of Ukraine - the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to bold assumptions, new uniforms and insignia can be organized by August 24 - for participants in the military parade in Kyiv on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Independence.

Shoulder straps
The new shoulder straps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces look like this:


“Now the insignia is based on Soviet symbols (with stars - “N”), which is also maximally related to the symbols of the army of the strategic enemy,” state the developers of the new symbols, proposing a new design of shoulder straps, etc.

The new design is based on the “heredity of the Ukrainian military tradition.”

A diamond-shaped star for shoulder straps (instead of a five-pointed one) was approved by the Commission for the Development of Military Symbols of the Armed Forces of Ukraine back in 1992, as indicated in the annotation.

Shoulder strap details:


Signs for hats
Signs on caps:


Beret insignia:



It is worth noting that the most controversial thing is the beret badge of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, which depicts a werewolf. Commentators write that many MTR soldiers do not perceive such symbolism, some call it “a sick dog in the bushes.”

Hats


Berets
Beret colors:


Berets are another controversial topic. As the developers note, the current colors of berets in some types of troops “imitate Soviet symbols and go against world traditions.”

The beret reform project is causing resistance from some branches of the military (in particular the airborne troops and the marines), “due to the attraction of false traditions.” That is, the paratroopers want to continue to be “blue berets”, like in the USSR.

Maroon is the color of the beret of airborne troops in the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Norway, Great Britain, USA, Germany, Poland, Brazil, Sweden, Turkey, Italy (59 countries in total).

Black is the color of the beret of armored forces in the following countries: Great Britain, Norway, Spain, Turkey, Canada, Germany, France (total 52 countries of the world).

Blue-green - in most countries, the Marine Corps wears the general naval color of the beret (dark blue). But in countries where the marine corps has the features of elite units (Italy, Great Britain), it has an individual color - green or blue-green.

Blue is the color of the berets of peacekeeping forces under the auspices of the UN.

The beret becomes the headdress of all categories of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

A uniform
Daily and dress uniforms of the Ground Forces: