Dmytro Kukharchuk
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National Guard (2014-2022)
Ukrainian Ground Forces (2022-present)Dmytro Kukharchuk | |
|---|---|
 Dmytro Kukharchuk in 2023 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 June 1990 |
| Alma mater | Cherkasy National University |
| Nickname | Сліп (Slip)[1] |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | National Guard (2014-2022) Ukrainian Ground Forces (2022-present) |
| Years of service | 2014 – present |
| Rank |  Major |
| Unit |  Azov Regiment (2014-2022).svg){kind=logo} Azov SSO Kyiv (2022) 3rd Assault Brigade (2023 - present) |
| Commands | Azov SSO Kyiv (2022) 2nd Assault Battalion, 3rd Assault Brigade (2022 - present) |
| Battles/wars | |
Dmytro Vasylovych Kukharchuk (Ukrainian: Дмитро Васильович Кухарчук; born 4 June 1990) is a Ukrainian politician and military officer.
He is one of the leaders of the far-right National Corps party, and commander of the second battalion of the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.[2] An Euromaidan activist and former football Ultra, Kukharchuk joined the Azov Battalion in 2014, taking part in fighting in eastern Ukraine. In 2016 he joined the National Corps party, founded by Azov Battalion's commander Andriy Biletsky and served in party in high-ranking leadership positions,[3] and has been accused of political violence.[4][5]
At the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kukharchuk was in Kyiv. He organized a military unit composed of former Azov veterans and local volunteers, known as the Azov SSO. In 2023, the Azov SSO units were merged into the 3rd Assault Brigade, where Kukharchuk became the commander of the 2nd Battalion.
He was born June 4, 1990, in Vinnytsia. He graduated Cherkasy National University, received a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He later worked as a freelance journalist.[6] At the turn of the 2000s and 2010s, he actively participated in the activities of the Ultras movement in Cherkasy.
An active participant in the Revolution of Dignity, he took part in the storming of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration and 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots in Kyiv.[7] In the spring of 2014 he became a volunteer in Azov Battalion. He took part in fighting in eastern Ukraine, in particular in Battle of Marinka, Battle of Ilovaisk and Shyrokyne standoff.
In an interview with the Ukrainian army's Armiya TV in June 2024, he said that numerous times during the war, the Azov Brigade had been used as blocking troops.[8] He then gave a detailed account of an instance of his unit being used as barrier troops in 2022 saying, "We were motivational troops then. We then helped the 110th brigade of the TRO. I can't say anything bad about them, because for a TRO they fought quite well, but, again, as a TRO they had to be motivated. And then my detachment—I was then the commander of a detachment of 500 men—was evenly distributed along a 25-kilometer line to assist units of the 110th brigade in their positions."[8]
