Valery Hrebeniuk is a seasoned Ukrainian diplomat and international law expert with nearly three decades of experience spanning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Administration, and the Security Service of Ukraine. Born in Kreminna, Luhansk region, he graduated with honors from the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Kharkiv in 1993 and subsequently studied at the Institute of European Law in Florence, Italy. In 1997, he defended his doctoral dissertation in international law at the Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Over the course of his diplomatic career, Hrebeniuk held a succession of senior posts, including Consul General of Ukraine in Washington, D.C. (1998–2001), Head of the Foreign Policy Service of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine and Advisor to the President on Foreign Policy (2005–2006), and Consul General in San Francisco (2003–2005). From 2008 to 2014, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to South Africa, with concurrent accreditation to Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Following his ambassadorial tenure, Hrebeniuk was appointed Diplomatic Advisor to the Security Service of Ukraine, focusing on international legal aspects of the agency’s work and diplomatic coordination. From 2015 to 2019, he served as a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the political working group of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, participating in negotiations held in Minsk. He also served as Ukraine’s representative to the Council of Europe’s legal committees for nearly three decades (1996–2023) and to the European Committee on Counter-Terrorism (CDCT).
Hrebeniuk holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the First Class and the First Rank of Civil Servant. He has been recognized with the M.K. Yangel Medal for outstanding contributions to rocket engineering and space science, an honorary citizenship of the City of Los Angeles for his role in advancing Ukrainian-American relations, and a commendation from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his contributions to Ukrainian-American cooperation. He currently serves as Advisor on Diplomatic Issues at NJSC Nadra Ukrainy.