Poroshenko’s Good Choices for Military Leadership

A friend of mine from Lviv, a former airborne officer, has offered a positive view about President Poroshenko’s choices for Minister of Defense and army chief of staff, pointing out that they bode well for the patriotic development of the Ukrainian army after years of denationalization and destabilization under Putin’s lackey Viktor Yanukovych.

The new minister, Valeriy Heletey, was born in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. By education, training and career path, he is a militia officer. His career began to grow quickly after he married the daughter of Volodymyr Horbulin, former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. Nonetheless, my friend said, Heletey is a proactive professional.

He was able to mobilize a national security service that quantitatively and qualitatively surpassed the special operations units of the National Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Berkut” unit. My friend observed that Heletey’s selection is positive because appointing a high-ranking defense official from another ministry means that the president is genuinely intent on purging the Ministry of Defense of the “old boy” network of graft, corruption and ineffectiveness.

On the other hand, my friend expressed unreserved support for the appointment of Viktor Muzhenko as the new chief of the general staff. He described Muzhenko as a soldier’s general, sort of like General Patton, who does not shy away from combat but rather heads toward it. Muzhenko is regarded as a brave and professional solider, who has served tours of duty in Yugoslavia and Iraq. But most importantly, he has planned, commanded and led the current victorious Ukrainian anti-terrorist operations against Russian terrorists in Ukraine.

My friend’s son was assigned to Muzhenko’s detail and said that he not only planned the operation but personally led the soldiers in battle against the enemy. My friend noted that not every Ukrainian general even with an automatic weapon and body armor would personally lead troops in battle. Furthermore, he observed, a regular soldier would not stand up in battle if his general was hiding behind his spine.