At the moment, the Non-Commissioned Officer Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — which includes more than 250,000 sergeants…
Today, Ukraine celebrates Sergeant’s Day.
At the moment, the Non-Commissioned Officer Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — which includes more than 250,000 sergeants and senior NCOs across various branches and types of the Armed Forces — is at the stage of performing its designated mission, namely carrying out combat and special tasks within the framework of the strategic defensive operation. In other words, they are directly participating in the full-scale war.
“It is difficult to talk about development in these conditions. The priority is to accomplish the missions, to have time to restore and preserve what we have. But of course, we are doing everything possible to learn lessons from this war, to become better and stronger, to solve current problems, and to ensure further development in the future”, — emphasized the guest of the ArmyInform press center, Chief Master Sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Kosynskyi.
He told the correspondent of the Information Agency about the role, place, key tasks and functions of the NCO corps in ensuring the execution of combat and special missions, as well as about the traditions within the sergeant corps and the origins of Sergeant’s Day.
“There are four main directions defined by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the NCO corps as priorities in areas of active hostilities.
The first is the direct support of combat and special missions — that is, combat work on the forward line of engagement with the enemy. Everything that ensures that a soldier is prepared, able to reach and hold his position, and perform the assigned tasks there: that he is supplied, that he gets there, that he is maximally trained, knows his mission, is capable of performing it and staying alive, and that he can be replaced in time and provided with rest…
The second priority is the direct training of soldiers and sergeants upon their arrival to the unit and throughout their service — continuous training and improvement of proficiency.
The third is maintaining military discipline within units.
And the fourth direction is sustaining the morale of the personnel”, — explained Oleksandr Kosynskyi.
He noted that the NCO corps is not simply individual sergeants and senior NCOs scattered across different branches, units, and formations of the Armed Forces, but a unified family — a brotherhood, a corporate unity within the Armed Forces that has its own identity, history, and values.
“We have a military ethos for the sergeant and senior NCO corps, which includes our moral and ethical values, our principles of service, and the foundations of leadership. These abstract concepts — such as honor, loyalty, selfless service, trust, respect, courage, and others — are real motivational components. They are what inspire faith and confidence in people’s hearts, the fire of determination and the will to fight. The traditions of the NCO corps unite us and allow us to affirm our commitment to our values, to understand our identity: how a sergeant differs from an officer, how a sergeant differs from a soldier, who the sergeant is in the eyes of civil society.
We have many sergeant traditions, including the drafting of the Sergeant’s Code by soldiers who receive the rank of junior sergeant, the induction of NCOs into the senior and higher NCO corps… Even during this war, some brigades have field sergeant clubs where sergeants periodically gather to discuss urgent issues, share experience, and support one another. And Sergeant’s Day is one of those key moments that strengthens our unity.
Previously, Sergeant’s Day was celebrated on the first Friday of March, according to the Order of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine ‘On Establishing the Professional Sergeant’s Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’ issued in 2009. But it was canceled in 2012 by Defense Minister Dmytro Salamatin — a Russian citizen who, in June 2025, was officially charged with high treason for decisions involving the disposal and sale of functioning weapons and military equipment. Oleksandr Kosynskyi noted that the effort to restore the professional holiday for sergeants lasted almost seven years”.
“Back in 2013, we began working on the first draft of the Presidential Decree to restore our professional holiday, but we succeeded only in 2019, when we finally achieved the establishment of Sergeant’s Day in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Although this was not a restoration of the previous holiday, but rather the creation of a new one — tied to the date when the first Concept for the Development of the Professional NCO and Senior NCO Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine came into force”, — the Chief Master Sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine explained.
