Volodymyr Vasyliovych Shcherbytsky was a Ukrainian Soviet politician who served as First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party from 1972 to 1989. A close ally of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Shcherbytsky replaced reformist leader Petro Shelest in 1972 as part of a crackdown on the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Shcherbytsky ruled as a neo-Stalinist, overseeing Russification of Ukrainian society as well as a rapid shift to nuclear power, ultimately resulting in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Shcherbytsky was removed in 1989 amidst widespread protests against his rule, and died months later.

The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine was a party leader of the republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The office's name alternated throughout its history between First Secretary and the General Secretary.