List of leaders of Ukraine

This is a comprehensive chronological list of national leaders of Ukraine since its independence in 1917, including its presidents both before and after the Soviet era, and the Soviet leaders themselves, who, unlike the presidents, were not formal heads of state.

Ukraine has had only eight presidents since 1917, divided into two periods (1917–1921 and 1991–present). In between, the country was a part of the Soviet Union (1922–1991) with the name of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Non-Soviet leaders of Ukraine 1917–1991

Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921)

The Ukrainian People's Republic was formed after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and lasted until the Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Russia in March 1921. The state leadership position title varied and, despite a rather widespread misconception, none of them had an official Presidential title.

No.	Picture	Name (Birth–Death)	Began office	Left office	Party	Title(s)
—		Volodymyr Pavlovych Naumenko (1852–1919)	17 (4) March 1917	28 (15) March 1917	Constitutional Democratic Party	Chairman of the Central Rada
1		Mykhailo Hrushevsky (1866–1934)	28 (15) March 1917 [1]	29 April 1918	Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party	Chairman of the Central Rada
2		Pavlo Skoropadskyi (1873–1945)	29 April 1918	14 December 1918	Ukrainian People's Hromada	Hetman
3		Volodymyr Vynnychenko (1880–1951)	14 December 1918	11 February 1919	Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party	Chairmen of the Directory
4		Symon Petliura (1879–1926)	11 February 1919	10 November 1920	Independent	Chairmen of the Directory

Western Ukrainian People's Republic (1918–1919)

The government of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, which was proclaimed on 19 October 1918, united with the Ukrainian People's Republic on 22 January 1919, although this was mostly a symbolic act because the western Ukrainians retained their own Ukrainian Galician Army and government structure. After the Polish-Ukrainian War, Poland took over most of territory of the West Ukrainian People's Republic by July 1919.

No.	Picture	Name (Birth–Death)	Began office	Left office	Party	Title(s)
1		Yevhen Petrushevych (1863–1940)	18 October 1918	22 January 1919	Ukrainian National Democratic Party	President

Ukrainian People's Republic in exile (1920–1992)

In Paris and Prague to 1945; Munich 1945–1992 and New York City 1945–1946 and then in the last part of 1992:

No.	Picture	Name (Birth–Death)	Began office	Left office	Party	Title(s)
1		Symon Petliura (1879–1926)	12 November 1920	25 May 1926	Independent	President
2		Andriy Livytskyi (1879–1954)	25 May 1926	17 January 1954	Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party	President
3		Stepan Vytvytskyi (1884–1965)	17 January 1954	9 October 1965	Independent	President
4		Mykola Livytskyi (1907–1989)	9 October 1965	8 December 1989	Independent	President
5		Mykola Plaviuk (1925–2012)	8 December 1989	22 August 1992	Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists	President

Soviet leaders of Ukraine (1918/1921–1991)

Ukraine was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 30 December 1922.

Head of state

The nomenclature for the head of state position was changing. At first it was called as the chairman of the Central Executive Committee, then it was called as the Uprising Nine (Povstanburo) which was later reorganized into the Central Military-Revolutionary Committee (sort of revkom). In mid July 1918 there were some biases about the idea of the Ukrainian SSR, but with the help of more nationally inclined bolsheviks such as Skrypnyk, Zatonsky, and others the government of the Soviet Ukraine was preserved. After the defeat of Directoria the head of state was again called as the chairman of the Central Executive Committee. Since 1938 the position began to be called as the chairman of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada which was abolished in 1990. From 1990 to 1991 it was simply the head of the Verkhovna Rada until the introduction of the office of the President of Ukrainian SSR.

No.	Picture	Name (Birth–Death)	Began office	Left office	Party	Title(s)
1		Yukhym Medvedev (1886–1936)	24 December 1917	18 March 1918	Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
2		Volodymyr Zatonsky (1888–1938)	18 March 1917	18 April 1918	Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
—		Ukrainian Bureau For Directing the Partisan Resistance Against the German Occupiers	18 April 1918	28 November 1918	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
—		Georgy Pyatakov (1890–1937)	28 November 1918	29 January 1919	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
—		Christian Rakovsky (1873–1941)	29 January 1919	10 March 1919	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
3		Grigory Petrovsky (1878–1958)	10 March 1919	10 March 1938	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
—		Leonid Korniyets (1901–1967)	10 March 1938	25 July 1938	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee
—		Mykhailo Burmystenko (1902–1941)	25 July 1938	27 July 1938	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	First speaker of Verkhovna Rada
4		Leonid Korniyets (1901–1967)	27 July 1938	28 July 1939	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
			28 July 1939	14 January 1954	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
5		Demyan Korotchenko (1894–1969)	14 January 1954	7 April 1969	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
6		Oleksandr Liashko (1915–2002)	7 April 1969	8 June 1972	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
7		Ivan Hrushetsky (1904–1982)	8 June 1972	24 June 1976	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
8		Oleksiy Vatchenko (1914–1984)	24 June 1976	22 November 1984	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
9		Valentyna Shevchenko (1935-2020)	22 November 1984	4 June 1990	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Chairmen of the Presidium of Verkhovna Rada
10		Vladimir Ivashko (1932–1994)	4 June 1990	9 July 1990	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada
—		Ivan Plyushch (1941–2014)	9 July 1990	23 July 1990	Communist Party of Ukraine (bolshevik)	Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada

The Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (CP(b)U) leaders

The following list is composed of the secretary of the Central Committee of the party who were the leaders of the Party. The position also was changing names between being called the First Secretary or the general secretary, depending on a political atmosphere in the Soviet Union. The position was not officially of the head of state, but certainly was very influential, especially within the republic. The longest serving secretary was Vladimir Shcherbitsky with some 17 years as the head of the Communist Party, the second best is split between Stanislav Kosior and Nikita Khrushchev, both of which have 11 years.

• Mykola Oleksiiovych Skrypnyk (20 April – 26 May 1918, Secretary of the Organizational Bureau)

№	Secretary		Took office	Left office	Deputy	Congress
(1)		Yurii Leonidovych Pyatakov	12 July 1918	9 September 1918	None	1
2		Serafima Ilyinichna Gopner	9 September 1918	22 October 1918	None
3		Emanuil Ionovich Kviring	23 October 1918	6 March 1919	None	2
(1)		Yurii Leonidovych Pyatakov	6 March 1919	30 May 1919	None	3
4		Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior	30 May 1919	10 December 1919	None
—		Rafail Borisovich Farbman Acting	10 December 1919	23 March 1920	None
5		Nikolai Ilyich Beschetvertnoi	23 March 1920	25 March 1920	None	4
—		Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior Acting	25 March 1920	17 October 1922	None
6		Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov	23 November 1920	22 March 1921	Dmitriy Lebed	5
—		Feliks Yakovlevich Kon Acting	22 March 1921	13 December 1921
7		Dmitry Zakharovich Manuilsky	14 December 1921	10 April 1923		6
(3)		Emanuil Ionovich Kviring	10 April 1923	16 May 1924		7
			17 May 1924	7 April 1925	Aleksei Medvedev	8
					Ivan Klimenko
8		Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich	7 April 1925	12 December 1925
			12 December 1925	29 November 1927		9
					Aleksei Medvedev
			29 November 1927	14 July 1928		10
(4)		Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior	14 July 1928	15 June 1930
					Lavrentiy Kartvelishvili
			15 June 1930	23 January 1934		11
					Vasiliy Stroganov
					Mendel Khatayevich
					Pavel Postyshev
			23 January 1934	3 June 1937		12
					Mendel Khatayevich
			3 June 1937	27 January 1938		13
					Sergei Kudryavtsev
9		Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev Acting until 18 June 1938	27 January 1938	17 May 1940	Mikhail Burmistenko Acting until 18 June 1938
						14
			17 May 1940	3 March 1947		15
					Demian Korotchenko
(8)		Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich	3 March 1947	26 December 1947
(9)		Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev	26 December 1947	28 January 1949	Leonid Melnikov
			28 January 1949	16 December 1949		16
10		Leonid Georgyevich Melnikov	16 December 1949	27 September 1952	Aleksei Kirichenko
			27 September 1952	4 June 1953		17
11		Aleksey Illarionovich Kirichenko	4 June 1953	26 March 1954	Nikolai Podgorny
			26 March 1954	21 January 1956		18
			21 January 1956	26 December 1957		19
12		Nikolay Viktorovich Podgorny	26 December 1957	19 February 1960	Leontiy Naidek
			19 February 1960	30 September 1961	Ivan Kazanets	20
			30 September 1961	2 July 1963		21
13		Petro Yukhymovych Shelest	2 July 1963	18 March 1966	Nikolai Sobol
			18 March 1966	20 March 1971	Oleksandr Liashko	22
					Ivan Lutak
			20 March 1971	25 May 1972		23
14		Vladimir Vasilyevich Shcherbitsky	25 May 1972	13 February 1976
			13 February 1976	12 February 1981	Ivan Sokolov	24
			12 February 1981	8 February 1986		25
					Oleksiy Titarenko
			8 February 1986	28 September 1989		26
					Vladimir Ivashko
15		Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko	28 September 1989	23 June 1990	Stanislav Hurenko	27
16		Stanislav Ivanovich Hurenko	23 June 1990	1 September 1991	Leonid Kravchuk	28
					Hryhoriy Kharchenko

Ukraine (1991–present)

On 5 July 1991, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR passed a law establishing the post of the President of the Ukrainian SSR. The title was changed to the President of Ukraine upon the proclamation of independence (24 August 1991). The first election of the President of Ukraine was held on 1 December 1991.

  Non-partisan, without support or independent   People's Union "Our Ukraine"   Party of Regions   All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland"   Petro Poroshenko Bloc   Servant of the People

	Presidents of Ukraine		Elected	Took office	Left office	Party
		Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk	1991	5 December 1991 (Inaugurated on 22 August 1992)^[c]	19 July 1994	Independent / Non-partisan
		Leonid Danylovych Kuchma	1994	19 July 1994	30 November 1999	Independent / Non-partisan
			1999	30 November 1999	23 January 2005
		Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko	2004	23 January 2005	25 February 2010	People's Union "Our Ukraine"
		Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych	2010	25 February 2010	22 February 2014	Party of Regions
		Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov Acting President	—	23 February 2014	7 June 2014	All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland"
		Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko	2014	7 June 2014	20 May 2019	Petro Poroshenko Bloc
		Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky	2019	20 May 2019	Incumbent	Servant of the People

Living former heads of state

• Leonid Kravchuk, 87 (born 1934)
• Leonid Kuchma, 82 (born 1938)
• Viktor Yushchenko, 66 (born 1954)
• Viktor Yanukovych, 70 (born 1950)
• Oleksandr Turchynov, 56 (born 1964)
• Petro Poroshenko, 55 (born 1965)

See also

• List of Ukrainian rulers
• Prime Minister of Ukraine
• Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

References

1. March 28 - The meeting of the Ukrainian Central Council, first chaired by Mykhailo Hrushevsky