List of Ministers of Defense (Ukraine)

Minister of Defense of Ukraine Міністр оборони України
Incumbent Stepan Poltorak since Oct 14, 2014
Member of	Cabinet National Security and Defense Council
Reports to	The President
Appointer	The President with Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Precursor	People's Commissar of Defense (1944-1945) and People's Minister of Military Affairs (1918-1927)
Inaugural holder	Kostiantyn Morozov
Deputy	First Deputy Minister

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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 13 Ministers (19 counting acting). Valeriy Heletey is the incumbent Minister since his confirmation on 3 July 2014.^[1] The Minister of Defense is appointed by the President, but this has to be confirmed by a majority vote in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).^[1]

List of Ministers of Defence

Ministers since Ukrainian independence

#	Picture	Name	Origin	Took Office	Left Office	Days served	President(s) served under	References
1		Kostyantyn Morozov	Luhansk Oblast	September 3, 1991	September 30, 1993	758	Leonid Kravchuk	[2][3][4][5]
Acting		Ivan Bizhan	Vinnytsia Oblast	October 4, 1993	October 8, 1993	4		[5]
2		Vitalyi Radetskyi	Cherkasy Oblast	October 8, 1993	August 25, 1994	321	Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Kuchma	[6][7][8]
Acting		Valeriy Shmarov	Vinnytsia Oblast	25 August, 1994	10 October, 1994	46	Leonid Kuchma	[8][9]
3				10 October, 1994	8 July, 1996	637		[9][10][11][12]
4		Oleksandr Kuzmuk	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	11 July, 1996	24 October, 2001	1931		[10][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
Acting	Unknown			24 October, 2001	12 November, 2001	19
5		Volodymyr Shkidchenko	Russian SFSR	12 November, 2001	25 June, 2003	589		[21][22][23]
6		Yevhen Marchuk	Kirovohrad Oblast	25 June, 2003	23 September, 2004	456		[24][23][25]
7		Oleksandr Kuzmuk	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	24 September, 2004	3 February, 2005	132	Leonid Kuchma Viktor Yushchenko	[26][27]
8		Anatoliy Hrytsenko	Cherkasy Oblast	4 February, 2005	18 December, 2007	1047	Viktor Yushchenko	[28][29][30]
9		Yuriy Yekhanurov	Russian SFSR	18 December, 2007	5 June, 2009	535		[31][29][32]
Acting		Valeriy Ivashchenko	Zaporizhia Oblast	5 June, 2009	11 March, 2010	279	Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Yanukovych
10		Mykhailo Yezhel	Vinnytsia Oblast	11 March, 2010	8 February, 2012	699	Viktor Yanukovych	[33]
11		Dmytro Salamatin	Russian SFSR	8 February, 2012	24 December 2012	320		[34]
12		Pavlo Lebedyev		24 December 2012	27 February 2014	430	Viktor Yanukovych Oleksandr Turchynov	[35]
Commissar		Volodymyr Zamana	Chernihiv Oblast	22 February 2014	27 February 2014	5	Oleksandr Turchynov
Acting		Ihor Tenyukh	Lviv Oblast	27 February 2014	25 March 2014	26
Acting		Mykhailo Koval	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	25 March 2014	3 July 2014	100	Oleksandr Turchynov Petro Poroshenko
13		Valeriy Heletey	Zakarpattia Oblast	3 July 2014	14 October 2014	103	Petro Poroshenko	[1]
14		Stepan Poltorak	Odessa Oblast	14 October 2014	present	1041

The longest-serving Minister of Defence is Oleksandr Kuzmuk who served for a total of 2,063 days.
The longest serving as an acting Minister of Defense is Valeriy Ivashchenko who served for a total 279 days (over 9 months).

Military ministers and secretaries before the Soviet Union

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.

National ministers

Soviet ministers

• Vasyl Shakhrai
• Yuriy Kotsyubynsky
• Nikolai Podvoisky
• Valeriy Mezhlauk
• Vasyl Herasymenko

Ministers of Western Ukraine

• Dmytro Vitovsky
• Viktor Kurmanovych

See also

• Prime minister of Ukraine
• Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

References