COMCORPS: Valeriy Kurach

The ComCorps article series focuses on the commanders of recently formed army corps formations. Each article profiles the commander of a selected corps. Next in line is the 21st Army Corps of the Ground Forces and its commander, Brigadier General Valeriy Kurach. You can read our previous ComCorps article about Major General Dmytro Delyatskyi here.

About the Commander

Brigadier General Valeriy Kurach was born in 1976. In 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Donbas, he served as deputy commander of the 79th Air Assault Brigade (79th Airmobile Brigade in 2014). In 2016, he was appointed commander of the brigade. At that time, he was considered one of the most promising commanders, having helped elevate the brigade to a new level. The brigade played a crucial role in the War in Donbas.

In 2018, Kurach, along with Naval Forces Commander Ihor Voronchenko, sent a letter on behalf of their units to the District Court of Kyiv in support of Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, who had (and still has) Russian citizenship. Just recently, in October 2025, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stripped Trukhanov of his Ukrainian citizenship and dismissed him from his post.

Kurach resigned from his position following an uproar in the Ukrainian community and entered the reserves.

On February 10, 2022, he was appointed head of the Regional Management of the Eastern Territorial Defense Forces.

In 2024, Kurach led the Vuhledar Tactical Group, which was formed from the command staff of the 7th Rapid Response Corps. According to Ukrainian journalist Yulia Kerienko-Merinova, he failed to make a timely decision to withdraw troops when the flanks collapsed, which led to the Uspenivka encirclement near Kurakhove and heavy infantry losses. Following extensive media coverage of the incident, Kurach was dismissed from his post in December 2024.

One officer serving under his command described his leadership at headquarters:

“All he does is yell like a madman at the brigade commanders, sending assault units to retake lost positions. I’m often at the brigade’s command post, and I constantly hear him insulting brigade commanders and other subordinates. There are plenty of incompetent commanders in the Armed Forces, but Kurach surpasses them all.”

On July 6, 2025, MilitaryLand obtained a gift cerficate revealing exlusively that Valeriy Kurach has been appointed as the commander of 21st Army Corps of the Ground Forces.