Ukrainian involvement in the Iraq War
Ukraine began its involvement in the Iraq War on 5 June 2003, shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Throughout the conflict, Ukrainian troops were limited to a peacekeeping role, as part of the Multi-National Force – Iraq, though they engaged in combat with Iraqi insurgents. On 9 December 2008, Ukraine formally withdrew its last forces from Iraq, ending its participation in the Iraq War. Prior to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine's involvement in the Iraq War was the largest military operation ever performed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Over 6,000 Ukrainians performed military service in Iraq and Kuwait during the war, including a permanent presence of 1,600, and 18 Ukrainians were killed.
Ukrainian involvement in the Iraq War
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma sought to use the Iraq War to shore up western support for his government
Soldiers of the 19th NBC Protection Battalion [uk] practicing decontamination measures at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait (3 August 2003)
Ukrainian soldiers taking cover during the 2004 Battle of Kut [uk]
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only President of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by democratic backsliding and the growth of the Ukrainian oligarchs, as well as several scandals and improvement of Russia–Ukraine relations.
Kuchma in 2019
President Vladimir Putin with Leonid Kuchma, in the centre, and Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev before an expanded meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in 2000.
Ukraine without Kuchma protests, 6 February 2001
Kuchma with his son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk in 2014