Vitalii Kim
Vitalii Oleksandrovych Kim (Ukrainian: Віталій Олександрович Кім; born 13 March 1981) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who has served as the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast since 2020.
He is also head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration.
Vitalii Kim | |
|---|---|
Віталій Кім | |
 | |
| Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast | |
| Assumed office 25 November 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Heorhiy Reshetilov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 March 1981 Mykolaiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | Yulia Vitalivna Kim |
Biography
Vitalii Oleksandrovych Kim was born on 13 March 1981 in Mykolaiv. His father, Oleksandr, is an honored basketball coach of Koryo-saram ancestry, and was a player on the Soviet Union youth team.
Kim graduated from the Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 2 and the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding with a degree in enterprise economics.
In 1998, he began to engage in entrepreneurial activity. He was the managing partner of the Ushuaja entertainment complex.
In 2003, he worked for the Ukrpromresurs company, which was engaged in public sector auditing. From 2005 to 2011 he managed a number of enterprises in Mykolaiv, was engaged in international investments. From 2015 to 2016, he headed the analytical department of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine. He is also a founder of a group of development companies, engaged in the construction of residential complexes "Orange", "Concert" and "Uyutny".
Political activity
In 2019, he was a volunteer of the Mykolaiv branch of the Servant of the People party in the presidential and parliamentary elections. During the local elections of 2020, he was a candidate for deputies of the Mykolaiv city council from Servant of the People under No. 2,[clarification needed] while remaining non-partisan. Kim was also the head of the party's election headquarters and campaigned for the city and regional councils.
On 25 November 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Kim governor of Mykolaiv Oblast.
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kim's role as governor of Mykolaiv Oblast made him prominent as Mykolaiv faced an ultimately unsuccessful attack from Russian forces. Regarded by western sources such as The Economist and Le Monde as a charismatic leader, he has held daily video updates of the oblast's situation, which have garnered a following and established him as a popular figure across Ukraine due to his wit and mockery of the Russian Army. On 29 March 2022, his office was hit by a Russian missile in an airstrike, killing at least 37 people.
Personal life
Family
He is married to Yulia Vitalivna Kim, and is raising three children. They have two daughters, Yevhenia and Oleksandra, and one son, Ruslan.
In addition to Ukrainian, Kim speaks Russian as his mother tongue and English, in addition to some French and Korean, the latter owing to his Koryo-saram ancestry.
Health
On 9 December 2020, Kim stated that his wife may have contracted COVID-19 and went into self-isolation.
References
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