Born on September 22, 1965, in Spasiv, near Pervyatychi, Lviv region, Deshchytsia graduated from Ivan Franko Lviv National University, University of Alberta . Graduated with a master's degree from the Department of History of University of Alberta in 1995 following the successful defense of his master's thesis, "The Rise of Multi-Party Systems in Poland and Ukraine," written under the supervision of Professor John-Paul Himka. Fluent in Ukrainian, English, Russian and Polish.
Professional career
Early positions
From 1996 to 1999, he served as press Secretary, First Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland. He then spent 1999—2001 as Senior Coordinator of PAUCI. From 2001—2004 he was counselor of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Finland. He then spent until 2006 as Counselor and Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland. 2006—2008 he was Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He then spent four years, from 2008 to 2012, as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Finland and Iceland, while living in Finland. From 2012 to February, 2014, he was Ambassador-at-Large. During that time, from January–December, 2013, he was Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Conflict Resolution.
On 17 April 2014, Deshchytsia negotiated with John Kerry, Catherine Ashton and Sergei Lavrov at a quadrilateral meeting in Geneva in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine. The resulting Geneva Statement on Ukraine laid ground for de-escalating the crisis. However, Russia has repeatedly breached its commitments under the Geneva agreement, according to official statements of the leaders of the EU and the United States. One week after the joint Geneva Statement, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia of failing to adhere to Geneva commitments by orchestrating armed resistance in eastern Ukraine. U.S. President Barack Obama stated that Vladimir Putin has 'not lifted a finger' to ease tensions. President of the European CouncilHerman Van Rompuy acknowledged that Russia has not lived up to its Geneva commitments.
In May 2014, Deshchytsia said: "The West should impose more severe sanctions that hit specific economic sectors such as banking and target Russian decision makers. Deshchytsia labeled pro-Russian separatists as "terrorists".
Progress in visa-free regime with EU for Ukrainian citizens
Deshchytsia also said "We expect that the decision will be taken at the EU Council's meeting on June 23".
Incident near the Russian Embassy
On June 14, 2014, protesters had swarmed on the Russian embassy - overturning the embassy car and throwing paint and egg missiles — after pro-Russian combatants shot down a Ukrainian plane, killing 49 on board. Deshchytsia had descended on the protest in the hope that he could quell the escalating trouble, pleading with the demonstrators not to attack the building despite also understanding their concerns. "Did I say that I am against you protesting? I am for you protesting. I am ready to be here with you and say 'Russia, get out of Ukraine'," he told the baying crowd. "Yes, Putin is a huylo, yes," he said. However, Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Ukraine, wrote on Twitter that the minister had been "seeking to defuse a dangerous situation", adding that Deshchytsia is "a skilled diplomat and credit to Ukraine". On June 19, 2014, with the recent Presidential change, Deschytsia was replaced with Pavlo Klimkin, the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany.
