Zelensky replaces Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky signed two decrees, one dismissing Viktor Muzhenko from the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the second appointing Ruslan Khomchak to the post, as reported by the president’s press service.
“Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky appointed Lieutenant-General Ruslan Khomchak as Chief of the General Staff - Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” according to the statement.
Victor Muzhenko assumed the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on July 3, 2014. A month later he was given the rank of colonel general. In October 2015, the former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed a decree which awarded Muzhenko the rank of army general. Ruslan Khomchak graduated from the Moscow Higher Military Arms Command School. He served in the GDR and then in the Red Banner Belarusian military district. In August 2013, he received the rank of lieutenant general and in 2016 he was appointed Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the Land Forces of Ukraine.
When speaking in the Verkhovna Rada during the inauguration ceremony on May 20, Vladimir Zelensky asked the Ukrainian parliament to dismiss SBU head Vasyl Hrytsak, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, all active in their current roles since October 2014. Later, the Minister of Defense announced that he was retiring. Last week, the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, wrote a letter of resignation.