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

Main article: Ministry of Defence (Ukraine)

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. 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).

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		Leonid Kravchuk
Acting		Ivan Bizhan	Vinnytsia Oblast	October 4, 1993	October 8, 1993
2		Vitalyi Radetskyi	Cherkasy Oblast	October 8, 1993	August 25, 1994		Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Kuchma
Acting		Valeriy Shmarov	Vinnytsia Oblast	25 August, 1994	10 October, 1994		Leonid Kuchma
3				10 October, 1994	8 July, 1996
4		Oleksandr Kuzmuk	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	11 July, 1996	24 October, 2001
Acting	Unknown			24 October, 2001	12 November, 2001
5		Volodymyr Shkidchenko	Russian SFSR	12 November, 2001	25 June, 2003
6		Yevhen Marchuk	Kirovohrad Oblast	25 June, 2003	23 September, 2004
7		Oleksandr Kuzmuk	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	24 September, 2004	3 February, 2005		Leonid Kuchma Viktor Yushchenko
8		Anatoliy Hrytsenko	Cherkasy Oblast	4 February, 2005	18 December, 2007		Viktor Yushchenko
9		Yuriy Yekhanurov	Russian SFSR	18 December, 2007	5 June, 2009
Acting		Valeriy Ivashchenko	Zaporizhia Oblast	5 June, 2009	11 March, 2010		Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Yanukovych
10		Mykhailo Yezhel	Vinnytsia Oblast	11 March, 2010	8 February, 2012		Viktor Yanukovych
11	Dmytro Salamatin	Dmytro Salamatin	Russian SFSR	8 February, 2012	24 December 2012
12		Pavlo Lebedyev		24 December 2012	27 February 2014		Viktor Yanukovych Oleksandr Turchynov
Commissar		Volodymyr Zamana	Chernihiv Oblast	22 February 2014	27 February 2014		Oleksandr Turchynov
Acting		Ihor Tenyukh	Lviv Oblast	27 February 2014	25 March 2014
Acting		Mykhailo Koval	Khmelnytskyi Oblast	25 March 2014	3 July 2014		Oleksandr Turchynov Petro Poroshenko
13		Valeriy Heletey	Zakarpattia Oblast	3 July 2014	14 October 2014		Petro Poroshenko
14		Stepan Poltorak	Odessa Oblast	14 October 2014	present

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

Military Rank	Name	Term of Office
		Start	End
	Symon Petlyura	June 28, 1917	January 1, 1918
	Mykola Porsh	January 1, 1918	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 23, 1921	August 5, 1921
Major General	Viktor Pavlenko (temporary)	August 5, 1921	November 15, 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

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