Serhiy Anatoliyovych Hayduk (; born 25 July 1963) is a Ukrainian

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

and a former commander of the

Ukrainian Navy The Ukrainian Navy (), is the Navy, maritime force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, service branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The naval forces consist of five components: surface forces, submarine forces, Ukrainian Naval ...

.Poroshenko dismissed the commander of the navy

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(15 April 2016)

Career

Before becoming commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Hayduk held the staff position in charge of anti-submarine warfare, the position of chief of

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations, and was the first deputy chief of staff of the navy. In 2007, he prevented an environmental disaster from ensuing when the leaky Russian vessel ''Odisk'' arrived in Crimea from Sierra Leone carrying ferroalloys. He was promoted to the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

in 2011. Hayduk was appointed acting commander on 2 March 2014, and commander on 7 March 2014 following the defection of Denis Berezovsky during the Russian annexation of Crimea. Berezovsky had been dismissed for "

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

" after serving only a single day as commander. On 3 March 2014, Berezovsky, together with several Russian

cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

, had visited high-ranking officers of the Ukrainian Navy and asked them to change allegiance and side with the Russian armed forces in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. After a speech by Hayduk, all the officers rejected the proposal and started to sing the Ukrainian national anthem.Traitor of Ukrainian Navy has proposed Navy officers to join the Russian military.
Ukrainska pravda, 3 March 2014 On 19 March 2014, pro-Russian forces took over the Ukrainian Navy's headquarters at Sevastopol and imprisoned its newly appointed commander-in-chief, Hayduk. Hayduk, along with seven other hostages, was held by the pro-Russian so-called " Crimean Security Service" and most of these hostages were

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

d while in captivity according to Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. The hostages were released by order of the Russian Defense Minister on 20 March 2014. On 23 August 2014, Hayduk was promoted to vice admiral. Hayduk was dismissed as commander of the Ukrainian navy by President Poroshenko on 15 April 2016. He was succeeded by Ihor Voronchenko.Poroshenko appoints Commander of Naval Forces of Ukraine

UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

(3 July 2016)

References

1963 births Formerly missing Ukrainian people Living people Military personnel from Dnipro Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School alumni Naval commanders of Ukraine People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Ukrainian admirals Ukrainian people taken hostage Ukrainian victims of human rights abuses {{Ukraine-mil-bio-stub

Career

See also

References