Chief of the General Staff (Ukraine)

The office created upon the reorganization of the Soviet Kyiv Military District when its head, Colonel General Viktor Chechevatov,^[7] after receiving the offer to be appointed to the post, refused to pledge his allegiance to the Ukrainian people. Originally it was known as Chief of the Headquarters and was designated as the First Deputy of the Minister of Defense. In 1996 it was changed to Chief of the General Staff. In 2002 as part of military reform, the post was separated from the civil service and lost its ministerial deputy functions. In 2005 Chief of the General Staff was reaffirmed as the primary commander of the Armed Forces in the country and was granted a parallel post of Commander-in-Chief. In 2020 another reorganization took place as part of ongoing military reform triggered by the Russian aggression and the post of Commander-in-Chief was split into a separate post.

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref.
–		Zhyvytsia, GeorgiyLieutenant General Georgiy Zhyvytsia [uk] (1937–2015) Acting	23 December 1991	4 June 1992	164 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8]
1		Sobkov, VasylLieutenant General Vasyl Sobkov (1944–2020)	4 June 1992	25 September 1992	113 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	.
–		Bizhan, IvanLieutenant General Ivan Bizhan (born 1941) Acting	25 September 1992	24 March 1993	180 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	.
2		Lopata, AnatoliyColonel General Anatoliy Lopata [uk] (born 1940)	24 March 1993	10 February 1996	2 years, 323 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8][9]
3		Zatynaiko, OleksandrColonel General Oleksandr Zatynaiko (born 1949)	12 March 1996	30 September 1998	2 years, 202 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8]
4		Shkidchenko, VolodymyrGeneral of Army of Ukraine Volodymyr Shkidchenko (born 1948)	1 October 1998	13 November 2001	3 years, 43 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8]
–		Palchuk, MykolaLieutenant General Mykola Palchuk [uk] (1945–2016) Acting	13 November 2001	27 November 2001	14 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	.
5		Shulyak, PetroColonel General Petro Shulyak (born 1945)	27 November 2001	28 July 2002	223 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8]
(3)		Zatynaiko, OleksandrColonel General Oleksandr Zatynaiko (born 1949)	13 August 2002	3 June 2004	1 year, 295 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8][10]
6		Kirichenko, SerhiyGeneral of Army of Ukraine Serhiy Kyrychenko (born 1952)	19 July 2004	18 November 2009 [a]	7 years, 122 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[8][11]
7		Svyda, IvanColonel General Ivan Svyda (born 1950)	18 November 2009	31 May 2010 [b]	194 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[11][12]
8		Pedchenko, HryhoriyColonel General Hryhoriy Pedchenko (born 1955)	31 May 2010	18 February 2012	1 year, 263 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[13][14][15]
9		Zamana, VolodymyrLieutenant General Volodymyr Zamana (born 1959)	18 February 2012	19 February 2014	2 years, 1 day	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[14][15]
10		Ilyin, YuriyAdmiral Yuriy Ilyin (born 1962)	19 February 2014	28 February 2014	9 days	Ukrainian Navy	[16][17]
11		Kutsyn, MykhailoLieutenant General Mykhailo Kutsyn (born 1957)	28 February 2014	3 July 2014	125 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[18]
12		Muzhenko, ViktorGeneral of the Army of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko (born 1961)	3 July 2014	21 May 2019	4 years, 322 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[4][19]
13		Khomchak, RuslanLieutenant General Ruslan Khomchak (born 1967)	21 May 2019	28 March 2020	312 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[19][2]
14		Korniychuk, SerhiyLieutenant General Serhiy Korniychuk (born 1965)	28 March 2020	28 July 2021	1 year, 122 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[2]
15		Shaptala, SerhiyLieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala (born 1973)	28 July 2021	9 February 2024	2 years, 196 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[20]
16		Barhylevych, AnatoliyLieutenant General Anatoliy Barhylevych (born 1969)	9 February 2024	16 March 2025	1 year, 35 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[21]
17		Hnatov, AndriiMajor General Andrii Hnatov	16 March 2025	Incumbent	1 year, 27 days	Ukrainian Marine Corps	[22]