Profile Text
Poroshenko in 2017, photo by palinchak /bigstock.com
Birth Name: Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko
Place of Birth: Bolgrad, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Bolhrad, Odesa Oblast, Ukraine)
Date of Birth: 26 September, 1965
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Petro Poroshenko is a Ukrainian politician, and oligarch. He was President of Ukraine, from 7 June, 2014 to 20 May, 2019. He has also been Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, from 8 February, 2005 to 8 September, 2005, Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 9 October, 2009 to 11 March, 2010, and Minister of Trade and Economic Development, from 13 March, 2012 to 4 December, 2012; as well as, a People’s Deputy of Ukraine, since 29 August 2019, and, previously, from 12 May, 1998 to 15 June, 2007, and again, from 12 December, 2012 to 3 June, 2014.
He is the son of Yevhenia/Eugenia Serhiyivna/Sergeevna, an accountant, and Oleksiy/Alexey Ivanovich Poroshenko, an engineer, government official, and manager of multiple plants. His father was from Safiany, and his mother from Matros’ka, both from Izmail’s’kyi district, Odessa. His father was said to have had Danube Cossack ancestry. Petro was partly raised in Tighina, then in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, now de facto in Transnistria, where he learned Romanian. Aside from Ukrainian, he also speaks Russian and English. He performed army service in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
Petro is married to cardiologist Maryna Poroshenko (born Maryna Anatoliivna Perevedentseva), with whom he has four children. Maryna’s father, Anatoly Perevedentsev, was Deputy Minister of Health of the Ukrainian SSR. Among their children is politician and diplomat Oleksii Poroshenko, who was a People’s Deputy of Ukraine, from 27 November, 2014 to 29 August, 2019. Petro is a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian.
Petro’s paternal grandfather was Ivan Evdokimovich/Evdokymovych Poroshenko (the son of Evdokym Sergeevich Poroshenko and Solomiya Trofimovna Ivanenko). Evdokym was the son of Sergey Poroshenko. Solomiya was the daughter of Trofim Ivanenko.
Petro’s paternal grandmother was named Evdokia Evdokimovna Rudenko (the daughter of Evdokym Rudenko).
Petro’s maternal grandfather was named Sergey Ilyich Hryhorchuk/Grigorchuk (the son of Ilya Hryhorovych Hryhorchuk). Ilya was the son of Hryhory Hryhorchuk.
Petro’s maternal grandmother was named Evdokiya Alekseevna Lazarenko (the daughter of Aleksey Lazarenko).
Source: Genealogy of Petro Poroshenko – https://www.geni.com