Stepan Poltorak

Stepan Poltorak
Степан Полторак
14th Minister of Defence of Ukraine
In office 14 October 2014 – 29 August 2019
President	Petro Poroshenko Volodymyr Zelensky
Preceded by	Valeriy Heletey
Succeeded by	Andriy Zahorodniuk
Personal details
Born	Stepan Tymofiyovych Poltorak (1965-02-11) 11 February 1965 (age 59) Vesela Dolyna, Odesa Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union (1983–1991) Ukraine (1992–2018)
Branch/service	Soviet Army  Ukrainian Ground Forces
Years of service	1983–2018
Rank	General of the army of Ukraine
Commands	National Academy of Internal Troops (2002–2014) Internal Troops/National Guard (2014)

Stepan Tymofiyovych Poltorak (Ukrainian: Степан Тимофійович Полторак) is a Ukrainian general who served as the Minister of Defence of Ukraine from 14 October 2014 until 29 August 2019.^[1] Previously he was the commander of the Internal Troops of Ukraine and National Guard of Ukraine.^[2] Poltorak's rank was General of the army of Ukraine.^[3] From 1 January 2019, Poltorak remained the country's defense minister as a civilian, after resigning from military service in October 2018.^[4] Poltorak resigned at the request of newly inaugurated president Volodymyr Zelensky on 20 May 2019.^{[citation needed]}