Valentyn Boryskin

Valentyn Danylovych Boryskin (Ukrainian: Валентин Данилович Борискін; 6 February 1942 - 8 January 2013), was a Russian-born Ukrainian army officer who was the commander of the Kyiv Military District in post independent Ukraine in 1992.

He was the first head of the Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine form 1992 to 1997.

He was the andidate of Military Sciences. He was a lecturer. He was an honorary member of the Military Intelligence Veterans Fund of Ukraine.

Valentyn Boryskin was born in Ozreki, Ryazan Oblast on 6 February 1942.

His father, Danil Nikitovich, a mathematics teacher, volunteered for the front in 1941, commanded a mortar battery and died at the front (according to some sources, a month after the birth of his son, according to others, in the spring of 1943.)

After graduating from high school, Boryskin worked for some time as a physical education and military teacher in a high school.

From 1961 to 1963, he served in tank troops in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.

In 1966, he graduated from the Kharkiv Guards Tank School. After graduating from the school he held the positions of tank platoon commander and tank company commander in the GSVG.

In 1968, he took part in Operation Danube in Czechoslovakia. He served in the positions of tank platoon commander, tank company commander, deputy unit commander, unit commander.

From 1970 to 1973 he studied at the Military Academy of Armored Forces named after R. Ya. Malinovsky, was a Suvorov scholarship recipient, and graduated from the academy with a gold medal.

From 1973 to 1979, he served in the Belarusian Military District as the deputy commander and commander of the motorized rifle regiment, deputy commander of the 120th Hv.msd.

From 1979 to 1983, he was the commander of the 19th Guards Tank Division of the Southern Army Group.

In 1983, Boriskin was awarded the rank of major general. After graduating from the Academy of the General Staff that same year, he was appointed to the post of Chief of Staff — First Deputy Commander of the Army of the Baltic Military District, and was sent to the 11th Combined Arms Army of the Baltic Military District as chief of staff.

He was a participant in the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. From May 1988 to July 1989, he was the commander of the 6th Guards Tank Army of the Kyiv Military District.

From July 1989 to December 1991, he was the Chief of Staff of the Kyiv Military District.

In January 1992, Boryskin has been appointed the commander of the Kyiv Military District in post-indpenedent Ukraine.

In November 1992, he was the head of the Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He left that position in January 1997. Since 1998, he had been a professor at the Department of Intelligence at the National Defense Academy of Ukraine.

He died on 8 January 2013 in Kyiv. He was buried on January 11 at the Baikovo cemetery.

He had two sons, Yuriy (1960-2021) and Oleksandr.

Yuriy graduated from the Fruzne Military Academy in 1991, and has served in the Ukrainian army, with honors.He died in the hospital of COVID-19 in November 2021. He was married, and had a daughter and a son. Oleksandr, who is a lieutenant colonel, serving in the troops of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine.