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The Ministers of Defense (Ukrainian: Міністр оборони, Ministr oborony) is Ukraine's head of the Ministry of Defence which is in charge of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the second biggest military power in Europe after its Russian counterpart.
Since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there have been 10 Ministers (12 counting acting). Mykhailo Yezhel is the incumbent Minister since his confirmation on March 11, 2010. The Minister of Defense is appointed by the President upon the ratification of the candidate by the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
Contents |
| # | Picture | Name | Military Rank | Took Office | Left Office | Days served | President(s) served under | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kostyantyn Morozov | Major General Colonel General (1991) |
September 3, 1991 | September 30, 1993 | 758 | Leonid Kravchuk | [1][2][3][4] | |
| Acting | Ivan Bizhan | Colonel General | October 4, 1993 | October 8, 1993 | 4 | [4] | ||
| 2 | Vitalyi Radetskyi | Colonel General General of Army of Ukraine (1993) |
October 8, 1993 | August 25, 1994 | 321 | Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Kuchma |
[5][6][7] | |
| Acting | Valeriy Shmarov | 25 August, 1994 | 10 October, 1994 | 46 | Leonid Kuchma | [7][8] | ||
| 3 | Valeriy Shmarov | 10 October, 1994 | 8 July, 1996 | 637 | [8][9][10][11] | |||
| 4 | Oleksandr Kuzmuk | Lieutenant General Colonel General (1996) General of Army of Ukraine(1998) |
11 July, 1996 | 24 October, 2001 | 1931 | [9][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] | ||
| No minister | 24 October, 2001 | 12 November, 2001 | 19 | |||||
| 5 | Volodymyr Shkidchenko | General of Army of Ukraine | 12 November, 2001 | 25 June, 2003 | 589 | [20][21][22] | ||
| 6 | Yevhen Marchuk | General of Army of Ukraine | 25 June, 2003 | 23 September, 2004 | 456 | [23][22][24] | ||
| 7 | Oleksandr Kuzmuk | General of Army of Ukraine | 24 September, 2004 | 3 February, 2005 | 132 | Leonid Kuchma Viktor Yushchenko |
[25][26] | |
| 8 | Anatoliy Grytsenko | 4 February, 2005 | 5 June, 2009 | 1047 | Viktor Yushchenko | [27][28][29] | ||
| 9 | Yuriy Yekhanurov | 18 December, 2007 | 5 June, 2009 | 535 | [30][28][31] | |||
| Acting | Valeriy Ivaschenko | 5 June, 2009 | 11 March, 2010 | 279 | Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Yanukovych |
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| 10 | Mykhailo Yezhel | 11 March, 2010 | 736 | Viktor Yanukovych | [32] | |||
The longest-serving Minister of Defence is Oleksandr Kuzmuk, who served for a total of 2,063 days.
Historically, the ministry was preceding by various other governmental institutions. The very first Ukrainian representative in military affairs was Symon Petlyura, appointed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko to General Secretariat of Ukraine in the summer of 1917. Later in December 1917 after establishing the Bolshevik government in Kharkiv the Military Secretary of Ukraine was opposed by the Military Secretary of Soviet Ukraine whom the first was Vasyl Shakhrai. Note that the first ministers of Ukraine were not specialists in military affairs, particularly such as Mykola Porsh.
The Ukrainian People's Army was in terrible condition and it was not until the power in the country was taken over by the former head of the Russian Imperial Retinue and hereditary Ukrainian Cossack Pavlo Skoropadsky, under leadership of which the new minister became Aleksandr Rogoza (also known as Oleksandr Rohoza). Rogoza was instrumental in restructuring the ministry and recruiting numerous former Russian Imperial generals who pledged their allegiance to the government of Ukraine. By the end of 1918 Bolsheviks recreated the Ukrainian Soviet government and to its office of military affairs was appointed Nikolai Podvoisky, former narkom of Military Affairs of Soviet Russia who played a key role in the October Revolution. Around that time there was created the government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic, the office of military affairs of which was headed by Dmytro Vitovsky who was a specialist in special operations, particularly the mountain warfare. Vitovsky played a key role in securing the city of Lviv and ensuring the proclamation of independence of the new Ukrainian state from the disintegrating Austro-Hungary.
| Military Rank | Name | Term of Office | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | ||
| Symon Petlyura | June 15, 1917 | December 18, 1917 | |
| Mykola Porsh | December 18, 1917 | January 17, 1918 | |
| Ivan Nemolovsky | January 18, 1918 | January 28, 1918 | |
| Oleksandr Zhukovsky | January 28, 1918 | April 29, 1918 | |
| Major General | Oleksander Hrekov (temporary) | April 29, 1918 | May 3, 1918 |
| Oleksandr Slyvynsky (temporary) | May 3, 1918 | May 8, 1918 | |
| Major General | Oleksandr Lignau (temporary) | May 8, 1918 | May 16, 1918 |
| Alexander Ragoza | May 16, 1918 | November 14, 1918 | |
| Borys Shutsky (temporary) | November 14, 1918 | December 14, 1918 | |
| Mykola Halahan | December 14, 1918 | December 26, 1918 | |
| Oleksander Osetsky | December 26, 1918 | January 9, 1919 | |
| Major General | Oleksander Hrekov (temporary) | January 9, 1919 | February 14, 1919 |
| Hryhoriy Syrotenko (acting) | February 14, 1919 | February 22, 1919 | |
| Colonel | Oleksandr Shapoval | February 22, 1919 | April 9, 1919 |
| Hryhoriy Syrotenko (acting) | April 9, 1919 | June 20, 1919 | |
| Hryhoriy Syrotenko | June 20, 1919 | July 4, 1919 | |
| Major General | Oleksandr Shaible (temporary) | July 4, 1919 | July 14, 1919 |
| Vsevolod Petriv (temporary) | July 14, 1919 | November 5, 1919 | |
| Major General | Volodymyr Salsky | November 5, 1919 | July 25, 1920 |
| Colonel General | Oleksiy Halkin (temporary) | July 25, 1920 | December 24, 1920 |
| Colonel General | Mykola Yunakiv (temporary) | December 24, 1920 | February 8, 1921 |
| Lieutenant General | Serhiy Dyadyusha (temporary) | February 8, 1921 | March 24, 1921 |
| Lieutenant General | Mykhailo Pavlenko (temporary) | March 24, 1921 | May 11, 1921 |
| Major General | Marko Bezruchko (temporary) | May 11, 1921 | July 31, 1921 |
| Lieutenant General | Petro Yeroshevych (temporary) | November 3, 1921 | November 14, 1921 |
| Major General | Andriy Vovk (temporary) | November 14, 1921 | May 22, 1922 |
| Colonel General | Mykola Yunakiv | May 22, 1922 | 1927 |
| Oleksandr Udovychenko | |||