Petro Poroshenko is the fifth President of Ukraine (2014 – 2019), People’s Deputy of the III, IV, V, VII and IX convocations.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on September 26, 1965 in the city of Bolgrad, Odessa region.
In 1989, he completed his studies at the Faculty of International Relations and International Law of Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, having received a degree in international economics.
In 2002, he defended his PhD thesis on the topic “Legal Regulation of State Corporate Rights Management in Ukraine”.
Career
During 1990 – 1991 he held the position of Deputy General Director of the Association of Small Enterprises and Entrepreneurs “Respublika”.
From 1991 to 1993, he worked as the General Director of the Joint Stock Company (JSC) “Exchange House “Ukraine”.
In the period from 1993 to 1998, he headed the closed joint stock company (CJSC) “Ukrainian Industrial and Investment Concern”, was the president of the open joint stock company (OJSC) “Leninska Kuznya Plant”, chaired the board of JSCB “Mriya” and headed the supervisory board of OJSC “Vinnytsia Confectionery Factory”.
Political Activities
In 1998, in the Verkhovna Rada of the third convocation, Poroshenko joined the faction of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (SDPU(o)) and later became a member of the political council.
According to the politician himself, he stopped cooperating with the party when he finally realized that its real leaders were not Leonid Kravchuk, Yevhen Marchuk or Vasyl Onopenko, but Viktor Medvedchuk and Hryhoriy Surkis. After that, he headed the Solidarity party and became the leader of the faction of the same name in parliament.
In 2002, he joined the “Our Ukraine” faction and joined the presidium of the “People’s Union Our Ukraine” party. During the Verkhovna Rada of the IV convocation, he headed the budget committee.
After the parliamentary elections of 2006, he headed the Committee on Finance and Banking.
Poroshenko has long been associated with close political and personal relations with Viktor Yushchenko. He is the godfather of the third president of Ukraine, as well as the owner of the Ukrprominvest company.
From February to September 2005, the politician served as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). The resignation came amid a scandal surrounding allegations of corruption and the promotion of personal interests in the country’s top leadership.
In general, Poroshenko was a member of the National Security and Defense Council for more than one year.
In October 2009, he was appointed to the post of head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine. In March 2010, he was replaced in this position by Konstantin Gryshchenko.
On March 23, 2012, Poroshenko was appointed Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
In the parliamentary elections of 2012, he ran as an independent candidate and won in the single-mandate constituency No. 12 in the Vinnytsia region. In the Verkhovna Rada of the VII convocation, he was a non-factional deputy, was not a member of any party, and worked in the Committee on European Integration.
During the events of the Revolution of Dignity in the winter of 2013-2014, Poroshenko actively supported the Maidan and regularly spoke to protesters.
After Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine and announced early presidential elections, on May 25, 2014, Poroshenko won in the first round, gaining 54.7% of the vote. The solemn inauguration of the newly elected president took place on June 7, 2014.
He also participated in the elections in 2019. During the second round of voting, he lost to presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky, who received 73.2% of the vote.
In the 2019 parliamentary elections, Poroshenko announced the electoral list of the European Solidarity party. As a result, the party won 23 parliamentary seats in the elections.
In the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation, Poroshenko became a member of the Committee on Integration with the European Union (EU), the committee was headed by European Solidarity MP Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze.
Fortune
In the summer of 2006, Poroshenko’s capital was estimated at $505 million. This figure was given in the rating of the magazine “Correspondent”, where the politician took the 15th position among the thirty richest Ukrainians.
The following year, Focus raised its estimate of his fortune to $756 million, placing him in 18th place in the top 100 richest citizens of Ukraine.
Already in 2008, Focus estimated Poroshenko’s assets at $1.45 billion, which allowed him to rise to the 13th position. In the same year, the publication “Correspondent” estimated his capital slightly lower – $ 1.12 billion, taking 22nd place.
The financial basis of his fortune is the assets of the Ukrprominvest corporation, which officially ceased to exist in 2012. Its sphere of influence included dozens of medium and large enterprises, including the Bogdan auto corporation, the confectionery giant Roshen, the Leninskaya Kuznya shipyard, the Ukravtozapchastina holding and others.
In 2014, Forbes Ukraine magazine ranked him 6th among the richest people in the country with a fortune of $1.3 billion. However, after 2015, his name disappeared from the Forbes list of billionaires.
In 2014, Poroshenko’s total income amounted to 368.9 million hryvnias.
The very next year, Forbes estimated his fortune at $750 million, which allowed him to take the eighth position in the ranking of the richest Ukrainians. In the same year, according to an analysis by NV and the investment company Dragon Capital, Poroshenko became the only one among the top 10 Ukrainian businessmen whose fortune increased in dollar terms. By the end of the year, their valuation had reached $970 million.
In October 2019, NV recorded a 12% increase in its assets compared to the previous year – to $1.253 billion. This allowed him to return to 6th place in the list of the richest Ukrainians.
And already in 2020, in the first issue of Ukrainian Forbes, Poroshenko was again included in the list of dollar billionaires – his capital was estimated at $ 1.4 billion.
Fortune
On February 12, 2025, the National Security and Defense Council decided to impose indefinite personal sanctions against Poroshenko. The restrictions include the complete blocking of its assets, a ban on conducting any economic activity, and the cancellation of all state awards and titles.
Marital Status
Poroshenko is married to Marina Anatolyevna. The couple has four children:
- eldest son Oleksiy (born in 1985);
- two twin daughters – Yevhen and Oleksandra (born in 2000);
- youngest son Mykhailo (born in 2001).
Father – Oleksiy Poroshenko (1936 – 2020), former deputy of the Vinnytsia Regional Council. Since the mid-1990s, he headed CJSC “Ukrainian Industrial and Investment Concern”.
Poroshenko also had an older brother, Mykhailo, who died in a car accident in 1997.
