Dmytro Marchenko

Dmytro Oleksandrovych Marchenko (; born 1978) is a retired Ukrainian Major General in the Armed Forces of Ukraine who served in the Russo-Ukrainian War, coming to prominence after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Marchenko defended eastern Ukraine in the early Russo-Ukrainian War. In 2019, he was the subject of a corruption probe by Ukraine's State Investigation Bureau. In the first days of the 2022 Russian invasion, his troops stopped Russia from taking the city of Mykolaiv during the battle of Mykolaiv, making him a national hero and earning him the Order for Courage. In July, he began working as a "senior official for cooperation" between various parties in Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblasts. During the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive, his troops destroyed important Russian military infrastructure around the city of Kherson, waiting to receive aid before they moved into the city. In November, his troops liberated it. He was involved in the Ukrainian counteroffensive from June to December 2023, which was unsuccessful. He retired from the military in November 2024.

Career

2010s The Russo-Ukraine War in eastern Ukraine began in 2014. Marchenko had a role in defending Donetsk Airport and Debaltseve. He later began leading a division of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry tasked with improving the quality of the country's military equipment. In 2019, Ukraine's State Investigation Bureau began a probe into allegations that Marchenko engaged in corruption by providing the Ukrainian military with poor-quality equipment at inflated prices, including "malfunctioning and overpriced bulletproof vests". Russia started moving in on the city from multiple directions. In March, Marchenko received the Order for Courage for his role.

In April, Marchenko's role in Mykolaiv was replaced, and he was sent back to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent Marchenko back to Mykolaiv after Marchenko received support from Ukraine's former President, Petro Poroshenko. Also in June, Marchenko said the Kerch Bridge between Russia and Russian-annexed Crimea was the "number one target" for Ukraine, as it would hurt Russia's ability to deliver reserve forces to the front. In October, a part of the bridge exploded in an attack.

Marchenko was commanding during the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive, an attempt to retake the city of Kherson. By August, Ukrainian troops were positioned in trenches around the city. Marchenko said they were waiting to receive new aid, and after that, it "will not be as long as everyone expects" until his troops could move in and take the city. Meanwhile, Marchenko claimed that taking Kherson would mean an end to the "active phase of the war", and that Ukraine planned to liberate Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk (which had all been annexed by Russia previously). Ukraine destroyed local infrastructure important to the Russians, such as command centers, ammunition depots, and bridges on the Dnipro River which resupplied units in Kherson. On August 10, Ukraine damaged the bridge at Nova Kakhovka, which was the "last transport artery" for the nearby Russians. In November, Ukraine liberated Kherson.

2023 In February 2023, Marchenko said that his troops were "starting to run out of resources". The new counteroffensive started in June 2023. The operation failed by the end of the year.

In November 2023, amidst Valerii Zaluzhnyi's public rift with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Marchenko said in an interview that he would like to see Zaluzhnyi as a presidential candidate; days later, after his comment spurred public debate over if Zaluzhnyi will be a presidential candidate, Marchenko apologized for his comments, saying “Please do not manipulate my statements, do not engage in discrediting [Zaluzhnyi].”

2024 On November 8, 2024, Marchenko announced his retirement from the military for health reasons.