Photo: dpsu.gov.ua
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Valerii Vavryniuk as acting head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
The appointment was announced in a presidential decree published on the president’s website.
“Valerii Pavlovych Vavryniuk, First Deputy Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, is hereby appointed to temporarily perform the duties of Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine,” the decree states.
Another decree released at the same time confirmed that Zelenskyy dismissed Serhii Deineko from the post of head of the State Border Guard Service.
Who is Valerii Vavryniuk
Valerii Vavryniuk was born on July 14, 1975, in the city of Khmelnytskyi. He is a combat veteran of the fighting in eastern Ukraine and has been awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, Third Class, as well as the presidential decoration “For Participation in the Anti-Terrorist Operation.”
Between 2003 and 2008, he served in the border guard system, holding a range of positions from deputy commandant of a border unit to senior officer in the operations department of the headquarters of the Western Direction of the Border Troops of Ukraine and the Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service.
From 2008 to 2014, Vavryniuk held senior positions in border guard units within the Northern and Southern regional directorates of the service.
Between December 2014 and July 2015, he served as deputy head of a regional directorate and chief of the operational and military department of the Eastern Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service.
Until October 2019, he commanded border guard units in both the Eastern and Western regional directorates and also worked in the apparatus of the Eastern Regional Directorate.
In 2019, Vavryniuk was appointed head of the Eastern Regional Directorate, and in 2023 he became head of the Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service.
He has served as First Deputy Head of the State Border Guard Service since October 20, 2025.
Background
Earlier, President Zelenskyy announced a large-scale reshuffle within Ukraine’s government. On the same day, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that Serhii Deineko had been appointed adviser to the minister. Klymenko added that Deineko would continue his military service and, after a short period of rehabilitation, would take command of a combat unit within the State Border Guard Service.
