Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced his decision to appoint Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Koval to the post of deputy secretary of the country's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
“I have made a decision to appoint him as deputy secretary of NSDC,” Poroshenko said in parliament on Thursday, July 3.
The Ukrainian leader expressed his gratitude to Koval for his work at the post of Ukraine’s acting defense minister, as well as “for assuming responsibility and doing everything in his power to rebuild the army during the most difficult of times and no matter how hard this task was.”
Poroshenko also announced the appointment of Yuriy Kosiuk to the post of first deputy presidential chief of staff.
Lt. Gen. Viktor Muzhenko was appointed Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff chief.
“I am informing you that Lt. Gen. Viktor Muzhenko is our new General Staff chief and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Poroshenko said.
Muzhenko “acted heroically during the anti-terrorist operation,” he said.
At a meeting with the leaders of parliamentary factions on Wednesday evening, July 2 Poroshenko said that he would ask the Verkhovna Rada to endorse the appointment of Col. Gen. Valeriy Hetel to the post of defense minister and the appointment of Muzhenko as Ukraine’s General Staff chief. Poroshenko said also that he would appoint Yuriy Kosiuk as first deputy presidential chief of staff for security issues.
Muzhenko took part in a peacekeeping mission in Iraq in 2003-2004. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant-general and was appointed to the post of deputy chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff in 2012. He became first deputy director of the Ukrainian Security Service’s counter-terrorism center on May 20, 2014.
