Our History

Milestones in the Establishment and Development of the Sectoral State Archive of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (SSA MoD)

20 May 1992 The Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (CA MoD) was established pursuant to Directive of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) of 11 April 1992 No. D-115/1/08. Its development began with the creation of the material and technical base, improvement of systems for storing and accessioning records, and the drafting of a regulatory framework for archival affairs within the AFU. The CA MoD was subordinated to the General Staff of the AFU.

20 August 1997 Adoption of a new staffing structure and renaming to the Sectoral State Archive of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (SSA MoD) pursuant to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 12 April 1995 No. 276, Directive of the Minister of Defence of 1 July 1997 No. D-115/1/0220, and the Order of the Head of the SSA MoD of 20 August 1997. The Regulations on the SSA MoD were approved.

Receipt by the SSA MoD of film records and the equipment required for their preservation and use. Transfer of facilities at 24 Melnykova St. (now Illienka St.), Kyiv, for the placement of SSA MoD repositories.

Planned and implemented measures to transfer the buildings of military town No. 147 in Kyiv (Boryspilska St.) for the placement of SSA MoD repositories. Receipt for permanent preservation from the State Archive of Kyiv Oblast of profile records of military formations, units and organisations from earlier historical periods.

The archives of the Western and Odesa Operational Commands were renamed the Lviv and Odesa Territorial Archival Divisions of the SSA MoD pursuant to Directive of the Minister of Defence of 20 March 2009 No. D-322/1/02 and subordinated to the Head of the SSA MoD. In 2010, amendments to the Regulations on the SSA MoD placed it under the authority of the Minister of Defence of Ukraine.

In 2011, the SSA MoD adopted a new staffing structure; the personnel became entirely civilian and the head’s position was retitled Director. Part of a building (military town No. 64, Kyiv) was allocated to accommodate a structural unit of the archive (the National Archival Fund (NAF) accessioning group). The First Deputy Minister of Defence approved the designs of the emblem and commemorative breast badge “Sectoral State Archive of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.” A new Regulations on the Sectoral State Archive of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine was approved by Joint Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine of 11 February 2013 No. 246/5/82. The SSA MoD was relocated within Kyiv to a new site (military town No. 233, 16 Boryspilska St.).

Work began on transitioning to national-level registration of archival documents in accordance with the Rules for Archival Institutions of Ukraine. Records were accepted from military units stationed in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Initial work started to register fonds held in the territorial archival divisions and to consolidate them into a unified SSA MoD List of Fonds. The SSA MoD accepted for permanent preservation the records of the Headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as records of military units whose personnel took part in ATO.

Optimisation of the SSA MoD’s structure in line with archival priorities, with emphasis on acquisition sources, digitisation, and creation of an internal information-exchange system. A new Regulations on the Sectoral Archive (SSA MoD) was approved by Joint Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine of 24 June 2020 No. 2180/5/221.

Since 24 February 2022, the SSA MoD has operated under the legal regime of martial law. To prevent any loss of National Archival Fund records, archival documents were relocated from the Odesa Territorial Archival Division of the SSA MoD.
2024 Transfer of records from the fonds of repressive bodies from the SSA MoD to the Sectoral State Archive of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR).