Denis Pushilin

Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin (Russian: Дени́с Влади́мирович Пуши́лин, pronounced [dʲɪˈnʲis vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈʂɨlʲɪn]; Ukrainian: Денис Володимирович Пушилін; Denys Volodymyrovych Pushylin; born 9 May 1981) is a politician who was the Chairman of the People's Soviet (Speaker of parliament) of the Donetsk People's Republic (2015–2018), and therefore, under the draft Constitution adopted in May 2014, the self-declared republic's head of state. On 7 September 2018 (after his predecessor Alexander Zakharchenko was killed in a bomb blast), Pushilin was appointed acting Head of the DPR; a position which he held until elections on 11 November 2018.