LEGAL REGULATION OF THE PROBLEMS OF ENSURING FOOD SECURITY IN UKRAINE AND EUROPEAN UNION'S COUNTRIES IN THE CONDITIONS OF MODERN CHALLENGES AND DANGERS

The purpose of the article is to identify the problems of ensuring the food security of Ukraine and the countries of the European Union in the conditions of modern challenges and dangers in the context of substantiating the peculiarities of their legal regulation. The problems of ensuring food security in Ukraine and in the countries of the European Union became acute during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly intensified under the influence of a full-scale war of russia against Ukraine in 2022 and threatened with the spread of global hunger. It has been established that the essence of food security lies in the creation by the state of favourable opportunities capable of ensuring proper conditions for the production of food products, the opportunity for the population to get food products, and their constant availability and stable supply. The main problems of ensuring food security in Ukraine and the European Union's countries are outlined, in particular: (1) russia's war against Ukraine; (2) conducting active hostilities in agricultural territories; (3) blockade by the aggressor country of seaports and annexation of significant Ukrainian territories; (4) violation of established food trade mechanisms; (5) unbalancing food products supply chains; ( 6) growing shortage of food products and their prices on the European and international food market; (7) dependence of the countries of the European Union on the export of products from Ukraine and russia. The main measures to increase the level of food security are proposed, the most important of which are ending the war in Ukraine; consolidating the international community's efforts to unblock seaports in the Black Sea and ensuring the uninterrupted supply of food to the countries of the European Union; balancing European and international food markets and reducing the rate of spread of hunger.