Natalia Humeniuk dismissed from the post of spokesperson for the Southern Defence Forces
19 April 2024 09:18
The head of the Strategic Communications Centre of the Southern Defence Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, has been dismissed from her post. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Komersant ukrainskyi 
reports.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has carried out rotation measures for the head of the Strategic Communications Centre of the Southern Defence Forces.
“In particular, it was decided to complete the secondment and exclude Colonel Natalia Humeniuk from the forces and means of the relevant group of troops from 19.04.2024,”
– the statement said.
As noted, no one has been appointed to the position yet.
The search for a suitable specialist who will “soon become the ‘voice’ of the Of the Southern Defence Forces”.
“The Centre for Strategic Communications of the Southern Defence Forces will operate in a regular mode, organising cooperation with media representatives who have the appropriate accreditation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,”
– the statement concludes.
Natalia Humeniuk reacted to the decision with a photo.
“The sun is still stronger than the clouds…”
– she wrote.
What happened before
on 16 April, a number of journalists from leading Ukrainian media outlets issued a statement demanding that Natalia Humeniuk be replaced as the head of the Joint Coordination Press Centre of the Southern Ukrainian Defence Forces.
According to the journalists, Gumenyuk created conditions in the southern region that made it almost impossible to work, and in fact “prevented the coverage of Russian crimes” in the Kherson region. For example, among other things, she is accused of preventing journalists from covering the consequences of the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in Kherson region. As a result, the world did not see the full extent of the consequences of the Russian crime.
The statement was signed by the Ukrainian media association Mediarukh, as well as more than 150 representatives of Ukrainian and foreign media.
on 17 April, the head of the Joint Coordination Centre of the Southern Ukrainian Defence Forces, Natalia Humeniuk, told Kommersant Ukrainsky in a blitz interview that the facts in the media statement about her removal from the leadership were stated without any evidence.
Natalia Gumenyuk: biography
Natalia Konstantinovna Humeniuk is a Captain of the 1st rank of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, head of the Joint Press Centre of the Southern Defence Forces of Ukraine.
She was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She has a university degree.
In 2016, she graduated from the Odesa Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. She has a master’s degree in public administration.
There is little publicly available information about the servicewoman’s personal life. It is only known that she is married and has a daughter named Olha.
Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Since 2013, she has worked as an assistant to the commander of a maritime security detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Then she became an assistant to the head of the regional media relations department in Odesa.
In the spring of 2022, Natalia Gumenyuk became the head of the Joint Coordination Press Centre of the Southern Defence Forces of Ukraine.
“For me, managing the Joint Coordination Press Centre of the Southern Defence Forces of Ukraine is the first such powerful experience and a great experiment. So is the centre itself. With the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there was a need to streamline information, including information about the conduct of hostilities, the enemy’s advance, the results of shelling, etc. Much could not be said or shown. Eventually, the concept of the Defence Forces emerged, bringing together various structures, bodies, services and agencies. All this required coordination between the structures themselves and the media, which were eager to cover the events. Then a group of heads of press services from various structures developed the idea of such a centre,
– Natalia Gumenyuk said in an interview.
Natalia Gumenyuk’s task is to disseminate important and truthful information without disclosing details about the war.
According to Gumeniuk, the centre operates in a virtual format and includes representatives of the press services of the army, the State Border Guard Service, the National Guard, the National Police, the State Emergency Service, the Security Service, the terrorist defence service, and regional military administrations – all involved in covering events related to martial law.
The area of responsibility includes coverage of information in the following regions:
- Odesa;
- Mykolaiv region;
- Kherson;
- Kirovohrad;
- Zaporizhzhia;
- southern part of Dnipropetrovska oblast: Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol districts;
- part of Donetsk region, near Staromayorsk.
In addition to her work as the head of the Joint Press Centre of the Southern Defence Forces of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk is currently the head of one of the departments of the General Staff’s Strategic Communications Department.
Natalia Humeniuk’s awards
On 12 September 2022, Nataliia Humeniuk was awarded the Order of Princess Olha, III class, for loyalty to the military oath, personal courage and selfless actions in defence of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
