Mykola Mykolaiovych Oleshchuk (Ukrainian: Микола Миколайович Олещук; born 25 May 1972) is a Ukrainian lieutenant general who served as the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force from 2021 to 2024.
Biography
He was born in Lutsk on 25 May 1972.
He graduated from the Zhytomyr Radio-Technical Institute in 1994. In 2004, he graduated from Kharkiv National University with distinction and in 2010, he graduated from the Ivan Chernyakhovsky National Defense University of Ukraine. During his service in the Ukrainian Air Force, he specialized on the S-300 missile system.
He was appointed commander of the Ukrainian Air Force on 9 August 2021.
On 14 October 2021, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
On 30 August 2024, he was fired by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a day after it was announced that an F-16 had crashed on 26 August. He was replaced by Anatolii Kryvonozhko.
Awards
On 26 April 2022, Oleshchuk was awarded the third class Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
On 14 October 2022, Oleshchuk was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine by President of Ukraine.
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