Ihor Viktorovich Plakhuta – Commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2024 – present).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on September 1, 1967 in the Kirovohrad region. He received his general secondary education in the village of Korobchyne.
He graduated from the Almaty Higher Combined Arms Command School in the Kazakh SSR. He also studied at the National Defense University of Ukraine, where he took a master’s degree program. Released in 2000.
Career
After graduating from the school, he returned to Ukraine and served in the Kyiv Military District.
In 1988, he participated in the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Chernobyl nuclear power plant).
Since 1991, he continued his military service in the National Guard of Ukraine, and later in the Marine Brigade.
In 2004 – 2008, he served as commander of the Separate Presidential Brigade. After that, he headed the 169th training center “Desna”.
In 2012, he headed the department of the Southern Territorial Command of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ukraine in Odesa. During the Euromaidan, he was involved in the protection of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
Plahuta did not fall under lustration, but after the Maidan he left his service in the Internal Troops.
In 2015, he joined the Department of State Security of Ukraine, where he was engaged in personnel training.
In 2018 – 2019, he held the position of Deputy Head of the Institute of the State Security Department of Ukraine of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
With the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation (RF), he joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). In March 2022, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Special Operations Forces, and later served as Deputy Commander of the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Group of Troops.
On February 11, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed him commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He holds the military rank of Major General.
