Ruslan Khomchak
Official portrait, 2021
Birth nameRuslan Borysovych Khomchak
Born (1967-06-05) 5 June 1967
Lviv,[1] Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union[2]
Allegiance Soviet Union
 Ukraine
Service/branch Soviet Army
 Ukrainian Ground Forces
Years of service1988–present
Rank Colonel general
Commands heldCommander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Chief of the General Staff
Commander, Ukrainian Ground Forces
92nd Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

Ruslan Borysovych Khomchak (Ukrainian: Русла́н Бори́сович Хомча́к; born 5 June 1967) is a Ukrainian Colonel-general who serves as the First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine[3] and former[4][5] Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, until 28 March 2020 also holding the post of Chief of the General Staff.[6]

Previously from 21 May 2019, he combined this post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the post of Chief of the General Staff.[7] On 28 March 2020, a decree by President Volodymyr Zelensky divided the posts of Commander in Chief and Chief of General Staff.[6] On this day Zelensky dismissed Khomchak from the post of Chief of General Staff and appointed him Chief Commander of Armed Forces while simultaneously he appointed Serhiy Korniychuk Chief of the General Staff.[6]

On July 27, 2021, Ruslan Khomchak was dismissed from the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine[4] and appointed as the First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.[3]

Biography

Khomchak was born in Lviv on 5 June 1967.[1] He graduated from the Moscow Higher Military Command School in 1988 and served in the Soviet Artillery Corps, primarily in a self-propelled artillery unit fielding the 2S3 Akatsiya.[1] Khomchak served in East Germany, in the Uzbek SSR and in the Belarusian SSR between 1988 and 1992.[1]

Following Ukrainian independence in 1991 Khomchak became a military commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. From 1993 to 2000 Khomchak served in the 24th Mechanized Brigade.[1] He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in 2013.[8] Khomchak participated in some of the most consequential battles during the war in Donbas. He was sectoral commander of Ukrainian forces during the Battle of Ilovaisk, in which Ukrainian units were surrounded and decisively defeated by separatists and their Russian backers.[9] Reflecting on the battle several years later, Khomchak's predecessor as Commander-in-Chief, Viktor Muzhenko, suggested that the incompetence of Ukrainian commanders, and the large number of Russian troops fighting for the separatists, were largely to blame for the disastrous outcome.[10]

On 21 May 2019, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Ruslan Khomchak Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[7] On 28 March 2020 a decree by President Zelensky divided the posts of Commander in Chief and Chief of General Staff.[6] On this day Zelensky dismissed Khomchak from the post of Chief of General Staff and appointed him Chief Commander of Armed Forces while simultaneously he appointed Serhiy Korniychuk Chief of the General Staff.[6]

On 10 September 2020, Khomchak tested positive for COVID-19.[11]

Family

Khomchak is married to Anna Kovalenko.[12] Kovalenko is a civic activist, journalist, active Euromaidan participant, former adviser to the three Ministers of Defense of Ukraine and a Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine. She was Head of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration from 13 October 2020 until 4 August 2021.[13][14]

In January 2021 Kovalenko gave birth to the couple's daughter Maria.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 (in Ukrainian) Politics Dossier of Ruslan Khomchak by RBC Ukraine
    (in Ukrainian) Biography of Ruslan Khomchak at the website of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
  2. ↑ Ruslan Khomchak. Liga.net
  3. 1 2 DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE №322/2021 About the appointment of R. Khomchak as the First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
  4. 1 2 https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/758177.html Valerii Zaluzhnyi appointed as Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces instead of Khomchak – Zelensky's press secretary
  5. ↑ DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE №319/2021 About the dismissal of R. Khomchak from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Zelensky appoints Khomchak Chief Commander of Armed Forces, Korniychuk Chief of General Staff, Interfax-Ukraine (28 March 2020)
  7. 1 2 "President Zelensky appoints new chief of Ukrainian army's general staff". UNIAN. 21 May 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  8. ↑ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ № 453/2013 - Офiцiйне представництво Президента України". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  9. ↑ Howard Amos in Moscow and Roland Oliphant in Mariupol (31 August 2014). "Vladimir Putin demands negotiations over 'statehood' for eastern Ukraine". The Daily Telegraph.
  10. ↑ "Kyiv honoring soldiers killed in 2014 Ilovaisk battle". www.unian.info. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
  11. ↑ "Head of Ukraine armed forces tests positive for COVID-19". Reuters. 10 September 2020.
  12. 1 2 (in Ukrainian) Follows her husband: the government approved the dismissal of Khomchak's wife from the post of head of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, TSN (28 July 2021)
  13. ↑ Zelensky appoints head of Chernihiv Regional State Administration, Ukrinform (4 August 2021)
  14. ↑ Цензор.НЕТ (15 October 2020). "Нова глава Чернігівської ОДА Коваленко - дружина Головнокомандувача ЗСУ Хомчака (оновлено)". Цензор.НЕТ (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2021-01-20.

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