The institute of military duty in the legal system of Ukraine

The article based on a comprehensive systemic analysis, examines the institution of military duty in the legal system of Ukraine. Defense of the Fatherland in accordance with Article 65 of the Constitution of Ukraine is a citizen’s duty and obligation, that is, a requirement of a legal and ethical nature, which has acquired special value in the conditions of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. There are no studies of military duty that solve the mentioned theoretical problems, take into account the domestic experience and the experience of the European Union and NATO regarding the legal regulation and implementation of military duty. This determines the relevance of the topic. The object of the study is the system of social relations that arise in the course of the legal regulation of military duty and implementation. The subject is the legal regulation of military duty as an element of the legal status of a citizen of Ukraine. The research methodology was made up of dialectical, logical, historical, system-structural, statistical, comparative-legal and formal-legal methods, and the modeling method. It is noted that the categories of «military duty» and «constitutional duty to defend the Fatherland» are not identical, but are in systemic unity and interconnectedness. Defense of the Fatherland, being an ethical and legal category, as a constitutional duty of a citizen of Ukraine has a broader meaning than the category of «constitutional duty». Military duty is fully covered by the content of the constitutional duty to defend the Fatherland, the implementation of which is not exhausted by military duty, but is impossible without its establishment. The ethical basis forms in the obligated citizen the subjective attitude necessary for the implementation of military duty, the significance of which is determined by the personal nature of the performance of military duty. Military duty is the type and extent of necessary and proper behavior of a citizen of Ukraine established by the Constitution of Ukraine in defense of the Fatherland in the form of military service with the implementation of the stipulated requirements established by the Law «On Military Duty and Military Service» in order to ensure constitutional values.