Vitalii Oleksandrovych Kim (; born 13 March 1981) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who has served as the

Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast The governor of Mykolaiv Oblast is the Chief of Local State Administration (Ukraine), head of executive branch for the Mykolaiv Oblast. The office of governor is an appointed position, with officeholders being appointed by the president of Ukrai ...

since 2020. He is also head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration.

Biography

Vitalii Oleksandrovych Kim was born on 13 March 1981 in

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

. His father, Oleksandr, is a basketball coach. Kim graduated from the Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 2 and the

Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding The Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, NUS, in Mykolaiv is a higher education institution which trains specialists for the shipbuilding and allied industries of Ukraine. The university is named after Russian admiral Stepan Mak ...

with a degree in enterprise economics. In 1998, he began to engage in entrepreneurial activity. He was the managing partner of the Ushuaja entertainment complex. In 2003, he worked for the Ukrpromresurs company, which was engaged in public sector auditing. From 2005 to 2011 he managed a number of enterprises in Mykolaiv, was engaged in international investments. From 2015 to 2016, he headed the analytical department of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine. He is also a founder of a group of development companies, engaged in the construction of residential complexes "Orange", "Concert" and "Uyutny".

Political activity

In 2019, he was a volunteer of the Mykolaiv branch of the

Servant of the People Servant of the People (; ''SN'') is a Liberalism, liberal, Centrism, centrist, Pro-Europeanism, pro-European List of political parties in Ukraine, political party in Ukraine. Since both the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the 2019 Ukra ...

party in the

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

and

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

s. During the local elections of 2020, he was a candidate for deputies of the Mykolaiv city council from

under No. 2, while remaining non-partisan. Kim was also the head of the party's election headquarters and campaigned for the city and regional councils. On 25 November 2020,

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

appointed Kim

governor of Mykolaiv Oblast The governor of Mykolaiv Oblast is the Chief of Local State Administration (Ukraine), head of executive branch for the Mykolaiv Oblast. The office of governor is an appointed position, with officeholders being appointed by the president of Ukrai ...

. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Kim's role as governor of Mykolaiv Oblast oversaw an ultimately unsuccessful attack from Russian forces. Regarded by western sources such as

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

and

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

as a charismatic leader, he has held daily video updates of the oblast's situation, which have garnered a following and established him as a popular figure across Ukraine. On 29 March 2022, his office was hit by a Russian missile in an

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

, killing at least 37 people.

Personal life

Family

He is married to Yulia Vitalivna Kim, and is raising three children. In addition to Ukrainian, Kim speaks

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, in addition to some

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

, the latter owing to his

Koryo-saram Koryo-saram (; ) or Koryoin () are ethnic Koreans of the post-Soviet states, former Soviet Union, who descend from Koreans that were living in the Russian Far East. Koreans first began settling in the Russian Far East in the late 19th century. ...

ancestry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Vitalii 1981 births Living people Governors of Mykolaiv Oblast Politicians from Mykolaiv Servant of the People (political party) politicians Pro-Ukrainian people of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Koryo-saram politicians Ukrainian politicians of Korean descent