Ihor Voronchenko heads up Ukrainian Navy
KYIV. July 3 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree appointing Acting Commander of the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Lieut. Gen. Ihor Voronchenko, as the Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Navy, and assigned him the rank of Vice Admiral.
The decree was read out during the Navy Day festivities attended by President Poroshenko in Odesa on Sunday, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The decree, dated July 2, was published on the website of the Ukrainian head of state on Sunday.
Voronchenko was born in the village of Babai in the Kharkiv region on August 22, 1964. He graduated from the Tashkent Higher Tank Command School, served in the Soviet military group stationed in Germany and subsequently in the Belarusian military district.
After the collapse of the USSR he swore loyalty to the people of Ukraine. Until 2003 he served in the National Guard, as the commander of a mechanized infantry regiment which after the National Guard's re-organization into the Internal Troops of the Interior Ministry was handed over to the Armed Forces and deployed with coastal defense troops of the Ukrainian Navy. At the time of Crimea's reunification with Russia Voronchenko was the Navy deputy commander for coastal defense. He was commander of the special-operation forces in the Luhansk region.
On April 15, 2016, Poroshenko signed a decree dismissing Serhiy Haiduk as the Commander of the Ukrainian Navy.
On April 25 Poroshenko met with Lieut. Gen. Voronchenko and announced his decision to appoint him as Acting Commander of the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.