State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (Державна прикордонна служба України; Derzhavna prykordonna sluzhba Ukrainy; ДПСУ or DPSU). The militarized law enforcement body under the President of Ukraine empowered to guard the borders of Ukraine—land, sea, and air—ensuring the country’s security. Formed on the basis of a law passed in 2003 with an established strength of 53,000 personnel, it superseded the Soviet-era counterpart. Under that earlier administration only the external borders of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were guarded; critically for independent Ukraine its borders with the Russian Federation and Belarus were unguarded and remained that way into the 21st century, leaving Ukraine open to infiltration, subversion, and invasion. The functions of DPSU are to protect the country’s borders preventing illegal crossings and to control border crossings while deterring unlawful attempts to move across borders. With respect to the sea economic zone, DPSU officials are empowered to stop, examine, search, and detain vessels engaged in fishing and other activities. The DPSU also acts as an intelligence gatherer and analyst, fights organized crime and terrorism, and interdicts illegal immigration. The DPSU protects high government officials as well as foreign diplomatic missions. It cooperates on Ukraine’s western flank with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) on the basis of a 2007 mutual agreement.

Under martial law, DPSU comes under the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Since the full-scale military invasion by the Russian Federation in February 2022, the agency participated fully in the country’s defence by acquiring the latest face recognition and drone technology, establishing at least three armed combat brigades, defending Snake Island, procuring millions of US dollars’ worth of weapons, and impounding a foreign vessel on the Black Sea engaged in carrying grain stolen from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In May 2025 the agency reported having detained since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war about 49,000 draft-age men attempting to illegally exit Ukraine. On Border Guards Day in April 2024, Serhii Deineko, head of DPSU, was promoted to lieutenant-general by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It has been suggested that Ukraine rightfully needs two border regimes—an armed service under the Armed Forces of Ukraine bordering the Russian Federation and Belarus, and a normal civilian border control and customs service elsewhere.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gonzales, K. W. ‘Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Ukrainian Border Security and Western Assistance,’ Problems of Post-Communism 51, no 1 (January–February 2004)
Padalka, A.; Belevtseva, V.; Shevchenko, S.; Fomenko, A.; Prymachenko, V. ‘Ensuring National Economic Security in the Functional Strategy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine,’ Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues 10, no 1 (September 2020)
Tyshchuk, V. ‘Features of Legal Differentiation of the Border Sphere in Ukraine,’ Italian Review of Legal History 9, no 8 (2023)
Chirodea, F.; Bordeanu, I. ‘Border Security Challenges in the Context of the Ukrainian War,’ Analele Universitatii din Oradea: Relatii internationale si Studii europene 15 (Suppl.) (2023)
Editorial Team. ‘Securing Ukraine’s Borders: A Comprehensive Overview of Border Security,’ MilitarySphere.com (3 July 2024)

Bohdan Harasymiw
[This article was written in 2025.]