Southern Operational Command

The Southern Command Operations (PivdOK) is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in the southern part of Ukraine, which was formed in January 1998 on the basis of the Odessa Military District.

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.

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

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