The University was founded in 1992 as the Academy of Ukrainian Armed Forces and later Academy of Defence. It traces some of its heritage to the Second Kiev Military Infantry and Nikolaevskoe Artillery schools that were opened in Kiev during World War I in 1914. Kiev Nikolaevskoe Artillery School was established in the building that today belongs to the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine. With the 1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine, the school was transformed into the Kiev Artillery courses, while the Infantry School was named after the Workers of Red Zamoskvorechye. In May–July 1920 the artillery courses were forced to relocate to Poltava due to advance of Polish-Ukrainian troops and Petr Vrangel's Forces. In Poltava the courses were merged with the Odessa Artillery courses into the Fourth Kiev Artillery Courses. In 1922 the courses were renamed into the Fourth Artillery School and in 1933 were named after Pavel Pavlovich Lebedev, a Russian Hero of the Russian Civil War. In 1935 the school was renamed into the First Artillery School of Lebedev and in February 1941 had its honorific changed to the 1st Artillery School "Sergei Kirov". During the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the school was evacuated to Krasnoyarsk and returned to Kiev on in September 1944. In 1958 it was renamed into the Kiev Higher Engineer School of Artillery and in 1973 into the Kiev Higher Engineer School of Missile Rockets. In 1974 the school became a Kiev branch of the Ground Forces Air Defence Military Artillery Academy. In 1977 it was transformed further into the Kiev Military Academy of Ground Forces Air Defence. With fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, the Ground Forces Air Defence Military Academy became the Academy of Ukrainian Armed Forces which in 1999 was renamed into the Ukrainian Academy of Defence. In 2008 the academy was transformed into a university. 5 years later, it was given the honorific of "Ivan Chernyakhovsky", in honor of the Ukrainian-born Sovietgeneral of the army.
Departments
The Department for reserve officers of the National Defence University of Ukraine is recruiting students for training program for reserve officers to military occupational specialties: " Logistic support for the troops," " Mathematical and the maintenance of the automated systems," " Social Psychology ", " Political Science" ; "Finance and Economics," " Construction and operation of military and special structures," "Application of engineering and engineering - engineering units."
