Acting President of Ukraine, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Turchynov has signed a decree appointing Mykhailo Kutsyn to the post of chief of general staff – commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Corresponding decree No. 172/2014 was published on the Web site of the head of state on February 28.

Kutsyn was born in 1957 in the village of Svoboda, Berehove district, Zakarpattia region, according to the web site of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine.

He graduated from the Blagoveshchensk Higher Tank Command College in 1978 and has served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces since December 1992.

From 2004 to 2010, he was the commander of the Western Operational Command of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

Prior to this appointment, he served as deputy minister of defense of Ukraine from March 2010.