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Ruslan Khomchak | |
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 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| Native name | Руслан Борисович Хомчак |
| Birth name | Ruslan Borysovych Khomchak |
| Born | (1967-06-05)5 June 1967 (age 58) |
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| Years of service | 1988–present |
| Rank | Colonel general |
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| Spouse | Anna Kovalenko |
Ruslan Borysovych Khomchak (Ukrainian:Русла́н Бори́сович Хомча́к; born 5 June 1967) is aUkrainianColonel-general who serves as the First Deputy Secretary of theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine[2] and former[3][4]Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, until 28 March 2020 also holding the post ofChief of the General Staff.[5]
Previously from 21 May 2019, he combined this post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the post ofChief of the General Staff.[6] On 28 March 2020, a decree by PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky divided the posts of Commander in Chief and Chief of General Staff.[5] 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 appointedSerhiy Korniychuk Chief of the General Staff.[5]
On July 27, 2021, Ruslan Khomchak was dismissed from the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine[3] and appointed as the First Deputy Secretary of theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.[2]
Khomchak was born inLviv on 5 June 1967.[7] He graduated from theMoscow Higher Military Command School in 1988 and served in the Soviet Artillery Corps, primarily in a self-propelled artillery unit fielding the2S3 Akatsiya.[7] Khomchak served inEast Germany, in theUzbek SSR and in theBelarusian SSR between 1988 and 1992.[7]
FollowingUkrainian independence in 1991 Khomchak became a military commander of theArmed Forces of Ukraine. From 1993 to 2000 Khomchak served in the24th Mechanized Brigade.[7] He was promoted to the rank oflieutenant-general in 2013.[8] Khomchak participated in some of the most consequential battles during thewar in Donbas. He was sectoral commander of Ukrainian forces during theBattle 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 UkraineVolodymyr Zelensky appointed Ruslan KhomchakChief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[6] On 28 March 2020 a decree by President Zelensky divided the posts of Commander in Chief and Chief of General Staff.[5] On this day Zelensky dismissed Khomchak from the post of Chief of General Staff and appointed himChief Commander of Armed Forces while simultaneously he appointedSerhiy Korniychuk Chief of the General Staff.[5]
On 10 September 2020, Khomchak tested positive forCOVID-19.[11]
Khomchak is married toAnna Kovalenko.[12] Kovalenko is a civic activist, journalist, activeEuromaidan participant, former adviser to the threeMinisters of Defense of Ukraine and aMinister of Information Policy of Ukraine. She wasHead 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]
Media related toRuslan Khomchak at Wikimedia Commons
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