Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The commander-in-chief for Armed Forces of Ukraine directs the Armed Forces of Ukraine, monitors the state of the army with military equipment, weapons, and other resources, reports to the president and the minister of defense on achieving military-strategic goals in defense.

The Law of Ukraine "On the Armed Forces of Ukraine" also stipulates that direct military leadership is an activity aimed at implementing measures for the development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, their technical equipment, training, and comprehensive support, and determining the basis of their application and management.^[2]

The terminology was first used to describe the President of Ukraine as head of the armed forces. In 1993, the title was supplemented with the text "Supreme". Until 2005, Ministers of Defense of Ukraine who served as commissioned military officer or Chiefs of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (if the minister is a civilian) invariably held the title of Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.^[3] On June 16, 2005, the title became permanently linked to the Chief of the General Staff with the reappointment of General of the Army Serhiy Kyrychenko.^[4] Until 27 March 2020, in accordance with Art. 8 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Armed Forces of Ukraine", the Chief of the General Staff was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On 5 March 2022, then Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, was promoted to the rank of General by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.^[5]