KYIV. Jan 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The 38th army corps stationed in the city of Ivano-Frankovsk is to have been disbanded by the end of 2002 in accordance with the Ukrainian Armed Forces reform concept for the period up to 2010, a spokesman for the country's Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
The defense minister has already signed the disbandment plan for the corps headquarters. Several units of the corps will be transferred to the 13th army corps headquartered in Rivne while the rest will be subordinate to the Western operational command. In particular, the chief of the command will be in charge of 128th mechanized division stationed in the Trans-Carpathian region.
The 38th corps is the successor of the 38th general army established in 1941. The army and its most famous commander Marshal Kirill Moskalenko participated in the Kursk battle, Dnieper battle and liberation of Poland and Czechoslovakia.
The reform concept also envisages the disbandment of one of three existing operational commands. The surviving command will have one corps each. Thus, the 32nd army corps of the Southern command will be transformed into the Ukrainian Navy coast guard headquarters. The Southern command will still have the 6th army corps stationed in Dnipropetrovsk.