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Ukraine's Southern Operational Command chief steps down after being appointed NATO liaison

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by Tim Zadorozhnyy
Ukraine's Southern Operational Command chief steps down after being appointed NATO liaison
Brigadier General Hennadii Shapovalov. (Southern Operational Command/Facebook)

Brigadier General Hennadii Shapovalov, Ukraine's Southern Operational Command chief, announced his resignation on Feb. 4 after he was appointed to the NATO military aid coordination center in Germany.

"It was an honor to be the commander of the troops of the Southern Operational Command chief — a powerful military team that has been courageously and selflessly defending the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine in all directions since the first days of the Russian-Ukrainian war," Shapovalov said in his statement.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in mid-January Shapovalov's appointment to a new position coordinating military assistance to Ukraine in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The city hosts NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), a center established as part of key commitments at the allied summit in July 2024.

Shapovalov is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, which trains senior officers of the U.S. military. He previously commanded Ukraine's 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade and was promoted to brigadier general in 2022.

The commander led the Southern Operational Command since April 2024 after replacing Andrii Kovalchuk amid broader military personnel changes.

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The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek
UkraineUkrainian armed forcesWar
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Tim Zadorozhnyy

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Tim Zadorozhnyy is the reporter for the Kyiv Independent, specializing in foreign policy, U.S.-Ukraine relations, and political developments across Europe and Russia. He studied International Relations and European Studies at Lazarski University and Coventry University and is now based in Warsaw. Tim began his journalism career in Odesa in 2022, working as a reporter at a local television channel. After relocating to Warsaw, he spent a year and a half with the Belarusian independent media outlet NEXTA, initially as a news anchor and later as managing editor. Tim is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian.

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