Chapter 3: Defense Reform and Military Transformation

This study assesses the prospects for Ukraine’s defence reforms and military transformation in the context of its pursuit of NATO membership, focusing on the Alliance’s core requirement of interoperability. Using insights from a dedicated expert workshop and supplementary open-source research, the paper analyses challenges across the technical, procedural, and human dimensions of interoperability. Key technical obstacles include Ukraine’s highly heterogeneous force structure resulting from wartime equipment inflows, limited domestic maintenance capacity, and the difficulty of adopting NATO-standard systems under wartime constraints. Procedurally, the persistence of Soviet-style command culture—particularly among senior officers—hampers doctrinal transformation and creates internal interoperability gaps. In the human dimension, inadequate English-language proficiency, mismatches between Western training programmes and Ukraine’s battlefield realities, and emerging distrust in NATO standards undermine effective cooperation. Drawing on comparative lessons from NATO members that transitioned from Soviet-era systems, the study highlights approaches to accelerate Ukraine’s modernisation, including targeted standardisation, enhanced domestic and external maintenance partnerships, tailored doctrinal reform, strengthened civilian oversight, and expanded joint training. The paper concludes that while full NATO interoperability will require sustained effort, phased and context-specific reforms can substantially improve Ukraine’s defence effectiveness and support its Euro-Atlantic integration.