Muzhenko Viktor Mykolayovych

General of the Army of Ukraine, Chief of the General Staff/Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2014–2019) with housing scandals

Born in 1961 in Zhytomyr region. Graduated from the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School (1983). Chief of the General Staff — Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. General of the Army of Ukraine (2015), candidate of military sciences. Until 2014 — deputy of the Zhytomyr Regional Council from the Party of Regions (left it in February 2014). In 2013, dismissed from the General Staff due to a “housing scandal”: military prosecutor's office found that army leadership used state funds to purchase apartments for relatives; Muzhenko owned three apartments — two in Kyiv and one in Zhytomyr, one of which he allegedly gifted to his son. Over 37 cases of illegal appropriation of state property were recorded in 2013 alone.

Il-76, warnings ignored, and accusations of espionage

On June 14, 2014, militants shot down a military transport Il-76 near Luhansk — 49 people died (9 crew members and 40 servicemen). According to media, Muzhenko received warnings about militants' plans to shoot down the plane and ignored them — documents to this effect were published in 2016; a criminal case was opened under the article "terrorist act." Additionally, over the years, he was accused of espionage in favor of the USA, although these accusations have not been publicly confirmed.