Volodymyr Mykolayovych Mozharovsky (Ukrainian: Володимир Миколайович Можаровський; born on 17 September 1952), is a Ukrainian politician and former army officer who reached the rank of

colonel general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

and served as the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine from 2010 to 2012. Mozharovksy was the commander of the

Operational Command South The Operational Command South ( OC South, ) is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in the southern part of Ukraine, which was formed in January 1998 as the Southern Operation Command on the basis of the Odesa Military District and was headq ...

from 2001 to 2004, and the commander of the United Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 2007 to 2010.

Biography

Volodymyr Mozharovsky was born on 17 September 1952 in the village of ,

Luhyny Raion Luhyny Raion () was a raion (district) of Zhytomyr Oblast in northern Ukraine. Its administrative centre was located at Luhyny. The raion covered an area of . The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, ...

Zhytomyr Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast (), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna (), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Zhytomyr. Its population is approximately H ...

. In 1973, he graduated with honors from the . At the same year, he was the commander of a motor rifle platoon in the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

. From 1974 to 1985, he served in the positions of commander of a reconnaissance platoon, commander of a company of cadets of the Leningrad Higher Military Command School, and a commander of a motor rifle battalion. From 1985 to 1987, he served as part of the 40th Army in Afghanistan during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. From 1987 to 1991, Mozharovsky was the chief of staff and deputy commander of a motor rifle regiment. In 1991, he graduated from the correspondence faculty of the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

with a gold medal. With the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in December 1991, Mozharovsky joined the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

in 1992. From 1992 to 1996, he was the chief of staff and deputy commander of a motor rifle division and commander of a mechanized division. Between 1996 and 2000, he was the deputy commander of an army corps, and then commander of an army corps. In 1998, he graduated from the operational and strategic faculty of the Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as an external student. From 2000 to 2001, Mozharovsky served as first deputy commander of the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

. On 19 December 2001, Mozharovky became the commander of the forces of the Southern Operational Command. In 2004, he became chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Northern Operational Command. From 2005 to 2007, he was chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. On 7 November 2007 he became the commander of the United Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. From January between August 2010, he was the first deputy chief of the

General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine () is the military staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is the central organ of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational management of the armed forces under the Ministry of De ...

. On 18 February 2010, Mozharovsky became the first deputy minister of defense. On 22 February 2011, when asked about whether Ukrainian fighter jets were involved at the

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

, Mozharosky stated, "I categorically deny, I immediately want to tell you (this information) and I want to inform you that there is not a single military pilot on the territory of this state and not a single military plane of ours either." On 15 March 2011, Mozharosky was dismissed from military service for health reasons. On 18 February 2012, he was demoted to Deputy Minister of Defense - chief of staff. On 5 March 2014, Mozharovksy was then dismissed as Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine - chief of staff at his own request.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mozharovsky, Volodymyr 1952 births Living people Colonel Generals of Ukraine People from Zhytomyr Oblast Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd class Recipients of the Medal For Military Service to Ukraine Frunze Military Academy alumni Ivan Chernyakhovsky National Defense University of Ukraine alumni Soviet military personnel of the Soviet–Afghan War