Valentyn Symonenko

Valentyn Kostyantynovych Symonenko (; born 4 July 1940) is a Ukrainian politician and former Soviet Communist Party functionary. Between 1996 and 2011 he was chairman of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine. He served also as mayor of Odesa from 1983 to 1992, 2nd First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine in 1992, and a People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1990–92 and 1994-98.

Early life Symonenko was born on 4 July 1940 in the city of Odesa, which was then part of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. According to later interviews, he stated that his life in Odesa post-World War II consisted of extreme hunger, but led him to develop a desire to "build and create". In 1962, he graduated from the Odesa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture. He was elected a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2006.