Serhii Deineko

Serhii Deineko
Occupation	Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Serhii Vasyliovych Deineko (Ukrainian: Сергій Васильович Дейнеко; born 5 April 1975)^[1] is a Ukrainian Lieutenant General who has served as the head of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service (SBGS) since June 13, 2019.^[2]

In 2014, at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Deineko was in charge of the Luhansk Border Guard Detachment, fighting Russia in Luhansk Oblast. The detachment had to retreat, and Russia partially occupied the oblast. He later worked as deputy director of the Operational Department of the SBGS. In 2019, he was appointed head of the SBGS, replacing Petro Tsyhikal.

Deineko has served during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started in 2022. In the prelude to the invasion, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russian troops would invade Ukraine from Belarus and through the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which was correct. The SBGS made plans to prepare for an invasion, which started on February 24, 2022. Deineko has continued to serve in the SBGS, and was promoted from Major General to Lieutenant General in 2024.