Operation Command South

The Operation 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 Odessa Military District and headquartered in Odessa.

The Southern OK covers 9 oblasts and autonomous republics: Odessa, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

In 2005-2013 it was known as the Southern Operation Association. In 2015 eastern parts of the operation command territory were passed on to newly formed Operation Command East based in Dnipropetrovsk. The headquarter of the OC South was relocated from Odessa to Mykolaiv.

Composition
By 1 July 2006, the Southern Operational Command included 6th Army Corps (6 AK) and other units comprising:
 * 17th Separate Armoured Brigade (Krivyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)
 * 28th Guards Mechanised Brigade (Chornomorske, Odessa Oblast)
 * 92nd Separate Mechanised Brigade Kluhoshyno-Bashkyrivka, Chuhuiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast
 * 93rd Separate Mechanised Brigade. Cherkaske Novomoskovsk Raion Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
 * 55th Artillery Brigade (Zaporizhzhya)
 * 107th Rocket Launcher Regiment (Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast)
 * 25th Airborne Brigade Hvardiyske Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
 * 79th Airmobile Brigade (Mykolaiv)
 * 11th Army Aviation Regiment (Chornobayivka, Kherson Oblast)
 * 1039th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Hvardiyske, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast)
 * 3rd Separate special purpose Regiment. Kirovohrad
 * 50 Academic squad of special training. Kirovohrad

Exercises that command units have taken part in include "Autumn-98", "reaction", "Southern redoubt-99", "Redoubt-2000", including peacekeeping – series of "Peace Shield", "Cossack Steppe," "common neighborhood", "Sea Breeze", "Fairway of Peace," "South," "cooperative partner" joint exercises with units of the armed forces of France and Italy.

Leaders
Colonel General Volodymyr Shkidchenko commanded the Odessa Military District from December 1993 until it became the Southern Operational Command in February 1998.


 * February 1998 – September 1998, Colonel General Volodymyr Shkidchenko
 * 30 September 1998 – 19 December 2001, Colonel General Oleksandr Zatynaiko
 * 2001 – 2004, Lieutenant-General Volodymyr Mozharovsky
 * ? November 2003 – July 2005, Lieutenant General Hryhoriy Pedchenko
 * 11 July 2005 – 25 June 2007, Lieutenant-General Ivan Svyda
 * 10 July 2007 – 10 May 2012, Lieutenant-General Petro Lytvyn further appointed commander 8th Army Corps (Ukraine) (Zhytomyr)
 * Major General Ihor Fedorov (Acting) Chief of Staff
 * 2 July 2012 – Major General Anatoliy Sirotenko