The relevance of this study stems from the fact that since the beginning of the 21st century, the European Union has become more actively involved in conflict prevention and peacekeeping in hot spots of the world; this is, in particular, determined by a wide range of instruments and mechanisms of the security system of the EU states, which, however, has its shortcomings and obsolete structural elements. The purpose of this study is to provide a brief analysis on the emergence and dynamics of the most significant armed conflicts and wars of the 21st century; to qualitatively and quantitatively characterise the degree of participation of European states in conflict resolution; to outline the main issues in conflict resolution at the level of the European Union; and to identify ways to improve coordination of actions in the area of maintaining peace and stability in the world with the participation of the European community states. The main scientific method used in writing this paper is the method of political and sociological research, which helped to identify the main hotspots on the geopolitical map of the world in the twenty-first century, to establish and characterise the level of influence and involvement of the European continent in modern military conflicts, and to define the main difficulties faced by European countries in preventing and resolving armed conflicts. The main results obtained from the study are as follows: identification of active centres of conflict and armed confrontation in the world; characterisation of the level of involvement and activities of the European Union in resolving military conflicts; emphasis on the basic problems of European countries in conflict resolution; and proposals for improving the pan-European system of conflict prevention and resolution in the world. The findings and conclusions of the study can be used as a basis for further research on this topic, including in areas that have a common basis with this topic; in the sphere of international relations – as a basis for choosing a scheme for resolving certain armed conflicts in the region; in historical sciences – as part of a course on the history of the outbreak and development of conflicts and wars in Europe and the world in the 21st century; in higher education, in particular, for the specialities of political science, conflict studies, basics of diplomacy, where certain factors, characteristics, signs and events identified in the study serve as a tool for research