Manko Valentyn Mykolayovych

Commander of the Assault Troops from the Korban Case

Valentyn Mykolayovych Manko — Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine (2024), commander of the Assault Troops (since August 2025), formerly head of the State Service for Veterans Affairs (2018).

Disappearance from Interpol in exchange for testimony against Korban

In November 2015, MP Andriy Denysenko published correspondence indicating that Manko's return to Ukraine and the dropping of robbery charges might have been part of agreements with law enforcement in exchange for "necessary" testimony against Hennadiy Korban. On November 12, 2015, data about Manko disappeared from the Interpol database, and the Ukrainian investigation into the robbery ended without results.

Appointment under the patronage of Tretyakov and veterans' protest

The 2018 competition for head of the State Service for Veterans was supervised by BPP MP Oleksandr Tretyakov, who, according to journalist Svitlana Kryukova, financed a campaign to "rehabilitate" Manko in the media. ATO participants themselves called him an "impostor" and "criminal" — colleagues from DUK "Right Sector" disputed his claimed status as a "former battalion commander."

Scandal with Russian music and criticism by Bezugla

In 2025, a video of Manko on TikTok set to music by Russian artists circulated on social media — after criticism, he published a new video set to Ukrainian music. MP Maryana Bezugla publicly opposed Manko’s appointment as commander of the Assault Troops, calling the structure a "fake" and recalling his convictions for fraud and robbery.