List of Ministers of Defense (Ukraine)

The Ministers of Defense (Міністр оборони) is Ukraine's head of the Ministry of Defence which is in charge of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the second biggest military power in Europe after its Russian counterpart.

Since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there have been 13 Ministers (19 counting acting). Valeriy Heletey is the incumbent Minister since his confirmation on 3 July 2014. The Minister of Defense is appointed by the President, but this has to be confirmed by a majority vote in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).

Ministers since Ukrainian independence
The longest-serving Minister of Defence is Oleksandr Kuzmuk who served for a total of 2,063 days. The longest serving as an acting Minister of Defense is Valeriy Ivashchenko who served for a total 279 days (over 9 months).

Military ministers and secretaries before the Soviet Union
Historically, the ministry was preceding by various other governmental institutions. The very first Ukrainian representative in military affairs was Symon Petlyura, appointed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko to General Secretariat of Ukraine in the summer of 1917. Later in December 1917 after establishing the Bolshevik government in Kharkiv the Military Secretary of Ukraine was opposed by the Military Secretary of Soviet Ukraine whom the first was Vasyl Shakhrai. Note that the first ministers of Ukraine were not specialists in military affairs, particularly such as Mykola Porsh.

The Ukrainian People's Army was in terrible condition and it was not until the power in the country was taken over by the former head of the Russian Imperial Retinue and hereditary Ukrainian Cossack Pavlo Skoropadsky, under leadership of which the new minister became Aleksandr Rogoza (also known as Oleksandr Rohoza). Rogoza was instrumental in restructuring the ministry and recruiting numerous former Russian Imperial generals who pledged their allegiance to the government of Ukraine. By the end of 1918 Bolsheviks recreated the Ukrainian Soviet government and to its office of military affairs was appointed Nikolai Podvoisky, former narkom of Military Affairs of Soviet Russia who played a key role in the October Revolution. Around that time there was created the government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic, the office of military affairs of which was headed by Dmytro Vitovsky who was a specialist in special operations, particularly the mountain warfare. Vitovsky played a key role in securing the city of Lviv and ensuring the proclamation of independence of the new Ukrainian state from the disintegrating Austro-Hungary.

Soviet ministers

 * Vasyl Shakhrai
 * Yuriy Kotsyubynsky
 * Nikolai Podvoisky
 * Valeriy Mezhlauk
 * Vasyl Herasymenko

Ministers of Western Ukraine

 * Dmytro Vitovsky
 * Viktor Kurmanovych