Chief of the General Staff (Ukraine)

Chief of the General Staff
Начальник Генерального штабу
Sleeve patch of the General Staff
Flag of the Chief of the General Staff
Incumbent Major General Andrii Hnatov since 16 March 2025[1]
Ministry of Defence
Member of	the General Staff
Reports to	Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Appointer	President of Ukraine
Formation	April 1918 (historical) 23 December 1991 (current)
First holder	Colonel Oleksandr Slyvynsky

The Chief of the General Staff (Ukrainian: Начальник Генерального штабу, romanized: Nachalnyk Heneralnoho shtabu) is the head of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the military staff of the Forces. He is appointed by the President of Ukraine.^[2]

Since a decree by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 28 March 2020, the posts of Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces have been separate.^[3] Previously the Chief of the General Staff also served as the Commander-in-Chief when a civilian was the Minister of Defense^[4] (before 1 January 2019 it was not a requirement that the Minister of Defense be a civilian).^[5]

The current Chief of the General Staff is Andrii Hnatov.

The office created upon the reorganization of the Soviet Kyiv Military District when its head, Colonel General Viktor Chechevatov,^[6] 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	[7]
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	[7][8]
3		Zatynaiko, OleksandrColonel General Oleksandr Zatynaiko (born 1949)	12 March 1996	30 September 1998	2 years, 202 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[7]
4		Shkidchenko, VolodymyrGeneral of Army of Ukraine Volodymyr Shkidchenko (born 1948)	1 October 1998	13 November 2001	3 years, 43 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[7]
–		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	[7]
(3)		Zatynaiko, OleksandrColonel General Oleksandr Zatynaiko (born 1949)	13 August 2002	3 June 2004	1 year, 295 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[7][9]
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	[7][10]
7		Svyda, IvanColonel General Ivan Svyda (born 1950)	18 November 2009	31 May 2010 [b]	194 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[10][11]
8		Pedchenko, HryhoriyColonel General Hryhoriy Pedchenko (born 1955)	31 May 2010	18 February 2012	1 year, 263 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[12][13][14]
9		Zamana, VolodymyrLieutenant General Volodymyr Zamana (born 1959)	18 February 2012	19 February 2014	2 years, 1 day	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[13][14]
10		Ilyin, YuriyAdmiral Yuriy Ilyin (born 1962)	19 February 2014	28 February 2014	9 days	Ukrainian Navy	[15][16]
11		Kutsyn, MykhailoLieutenant General Mykhailo Kutsyn (born 1957)	28 February 2014	3 July 2014	125 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[17]
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	[2][18]
13		Khomchak, RuslanLieutenant General Ruslan Khomchak (born 1967)	21 May 2019	28 March 2020	312 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[18][3]
14		Korniychuk, SerhiyLieutenant General Serhiy Korniychuk (born 1965)	28 March 2020	28 July 2021	1 year, 122 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[3]
15		Shaptala, SerhiyLieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala (born 1973)	28 July 2021	9 February 2024	2 years, 196 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[19]
16		Barhylevych, AnatoliyLieutenant General Anatoliy Barhylevych (born 1969)	9 February 2024	16 March 2025	1 year, 35 days	Ukrainian Ground Forces	[20]
17		Hnatov, AndriiMajor General Andrii Hnatov	16 March 2025	Incumbent	27 days	Ukrainian Marine Corps	[21]

Ukrainian General Staff

No.	Portrait	Chief of the Ukrainian General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Bobrovsky, BorysMajor General Borys Bobrovsky [uk] (1868–1933)	November 1917	March 1918	4 months
2		Slyvynsky, OleksandrColonel Oleksandr Slyvynsky [uk] (1886–1956)	8 February 1918	12 February 1918	4 days
3		Osetsky, OleksandrEnsign general Oleksander Osetsky (1873–1937)	12 February 1918	August 1919	4 months

Headquarters of the UPR

No.	Portrait	Chief of the Headquarters of the UPR	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Tyutyunnyk, VasylEnsign general Vasyl Tyutyunnyk [uk] (1890–1919)	1919	8 September 1919	8 days
2		Sinclair, VolodymyrColonel Volodymyr Sinclair (1887–1919)	8 September 1919	26 September 1919	18 days

General Staff of UPR

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff of UPR	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Sinclair, VolodymyrColonel Volodymyr Sinclair (1887–1919)	28 October 1918	19 August 1921	2 years, 295 days
2		Petriv, VsevolodColonel Vsevolod Petriv (1883–1948)	19 August 1921	June 1922	8 days

Ukrainian Galician Army No. Portrait Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Galician Army Took office Left office Time in office 1 Vitovsky, DmytroColonel Dmytro Vitovsky (1887–1919) 28 October 1918 5 November 1918 8 days 2 Kossak, HryhoriyColonel Hryhoriy Kossak [uk] (1882–1939) 5 November 1918 9 November 1918 4 days 3 Stefaniv, HnatColonel Hnat Stefaniv (1895–1949) 9 November 1918 10 December 1918 31 days 4 Omelianovych-Pavlenko, MykhailoGeneral Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko (1878–1952) 10 December 1918 9 June 1919 181 days 5 Hrekov, OleksanderGeneral Oleksandr Hrekov (1875–1958) [22] 9 June 1919 5 July 1919 26 days 6 Tarnavsky, MyronGeneral Myron Tarnavsky (1869–1938) 5 July 1919 7 November 1919 125 days 7 Mykyta, OsypGeneral Osyp Mykyta [uk] (1871–1920) 7 November 1919 12 February 1920 97 days

General Bulawa General Bulawa was a name of the General Staff of Ukraine in 1917–1920.[23] No. Portrait Chief of the General Bulawa Took office Left office Time in office 1 Marynovych, MykolaColonel Mykola Marynovych [uk] (1861–1944) 1 November 1918 5 November 1918 4 days 2 Goruk, SemenMajor Semen Goruk (1873–1920) 6 November 1918 10 December 1918 35 days 3 Myshkovskyi, YevhenEnsign general Yevhen Myshkovskyi [uk] (1882–1920) 10 December 1918 7 February 1919 58 days 4 Kurmanovych, ViktorGeneral Viktor Kurmanovych (1876–1945) 8 February 1919 6 June 1919 118 days 5 Stipsitz-Tarnawa, KarlColonel Karl Stipsitz-Tarnawa [uk] (1883–1954) 8 June 1919 5 July 1919 27 days 6 Shamanek, AlfredColonel Alfred Shamanek [uk] (1883–1920) 5 July 1919 7 November 1919 125 days 7 Ziritz, GustavMajor general Gustav Ziritz [uk] (1872–1920) 8 November 1919 10 February 1920 94 days