Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

The paper presents the Virtual Reality (VR) - Augmented Reality (AR) Simulator Kit designed for Call for Fire (CFF) training within the framework of fire support. It describes the system’s modular architecture, the use of mixed reality, voice control, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based analysis of standardized CFF communication. Pilot validation confirmed the technical functionality of the solution, as well as its ability to objectively assess procedural correctness and monitor reaction time and error rates. Its main contribution lies in linking immersive training with the broader context of fire support command and control. The originality of the paper consists in integrating VR/AR, AI, and analytical evaluation into a single training ecosystem.

The full-scale war against Ukraine has brought the issue of systemic environmental destruction to the forefront as a tool of modern armed conflict and has given new weight to the concept of ecocide in the context of national and international security. Large-scale damage to ecosystems, industrial facilities, water resources, energy and agricultural infrastructure demonstrates that environmental damage in wartime is not accidental, but structural in nature and causes long-term socio-economic and security consequences. The article considers ecocide as a multidimensional threat that affects environmental sustainability, public health, economic stability and regional security. The study analyzes the regulatory and institutional status of ecocide at the national and international levels. Special attention is paid to the criminalization of ecocide in Ukraine, the practices of recording and investigating environmental crimes in the context of military operations, as well as the problems of international criminal-legal qualification of large-scale environmental damage. The role of the UN system structure and international financial mechanisms in shaping the institutional response, supporting green reconstruction and restoring environmental sustainability is separately considered. The thesis is substantiated about the need to institutionalize ecocide as an element of the global safe architecture and strengthen international mechanisms of responsibility for military environmental damage.

The article is devoted to the study of the state environmental security in national and globalization aspects. It has been established that the environmental security of the state is a status of every person’s security, society, state and nature from excessive danger to the environment, i.e. the preservation and protection of vital activity, individual’s interests and his environment from negative anthropogenic and natural consequences, which is an important component of the state security. It is established that together with the concept of “environmental security” there is a concept of “environmental modernization” as overcoming of negative impacts on environment from the industrial society by transformation of the latter with help of the latest technologies. The existing threats to Ukraine’s environmental security, identified in the National Security Strategy of Ukraine in 2015 have been determined. The need for additional attention to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine was emphasized as one of the threats to the states’s economic security, which is in line with the provisions of the United Nations Resolution “Environmental Protection in Areas Affected by Armed Conflict”. It is noted that the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources only formally fulfills the task of assessing the environmental status, unlike Finland and Sweden. The issue of public participation of Ukraine in environmental management is still debatable, as defined by the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Protection”, it remains only formal, although, for example, the public is actively involved in the management of this field in China. Accordingly, it was proposed not only compliting tasks by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources to develop a single list of indicators at EU level for assessing the environment status, but also to involve the public in full participation in environmental management.

The scientific work illustrates the newly developed methodical approach to complex statistical research of environmental security of differentiated territories. It is based on the method of integrated assessment of the level of environmental security as the result of the mutual influence of industrial and economic, nature-protective activities of environmental innovations. On its basis, the analysis of environmental situation has been carried out both of the countries of the world and separate territories. The directions of improvement of statistical observation have been justified in the field of environmental security, which include modernization of the forms of manifestation of international observation practice. This provides a combination of statistical indicators and the correct conduct of interterritorial comparisons.