After graduation of the Military Aviation College for Pilots in Yeysk in 1986, he served in the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Russia until 1998. At first Yakymenko was stationed in Choibalsan, Mongolia until withdrawal of the Soviet troops. Later he was relocated to Hvardiiske in Crimea where in 1991-1998 he served in the MilitaryAviation Forces of Black Sea Fleet. In 1997 Yakymenko graduated the Gagarin Air Force Academy. There is no information about Yakymenko ever receiving citizenship of Ukraine. In 1998-99 he worked for a militarized security of the Donetsk State Aviation Company "Donetsk - SAU". In his official biography Yakymenko claims that he worked in the Security Service of Ukrainein 1999 to 2007 in leading positions, yet does not disclose in what exactly and without any details. On 10 January 2013 in interview to Gazeta in Ukrainian, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko stated that nobody in the Ukrainian parliament knows the real biography of the SBU director. In 2007-08 Yakymenko was an advisor for internal security for one of the companies that are part of System Capital Management. From 2008 to 2010 the official biography of Yakymenko states that he worked part time without any contracts and the biography does not specify where and for whom Yakymenko was working. Soon after election of Viktor Yanukovych the President of Ukraine in 2010, Yakymenko was appointed the head of SBU in Sevastopol and a year later the head of SBU in Donetsk Oblast. During that time he was promoted to the rank of Major General of the Security Service of Ukraine. In 2012 Yakymenko was appointed the First Deputy Director of SBU and in 2013 Yanukovych appointed him the Director of Security Service of Ukraine without properly introducing him to the Ukrainian parliament. On February 19, 2014, on the website of SBU Yakymenko announced that Security Service of Ukraine and Anti-Terrorist Center initiated an "anti-terrorist operation" against protesters of the Euromaidan. On February 20, 2014 on the streets of Kiev appeared snipers and special assigned units of MVS and SBU. On February 22, 2014 the Ukrainian parliament installed a parliamentary commissioner to check the SBU activities, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko who the next day announced that all leadership of Security Service of Ukraine quit. On February 24, 2014 Ukrainian parliament officially relieved Yakymenko of his duties as a Director of Security Service of Ukraine and on the proposition of the acting President of Ukraine appointed Nalyvaichenko in his place. A few days after the February 2014 Ukrainian revolution Yakymenko with about 15 former SBU top officials surfaced in Russia. Yakymenko is wanted by the General Prosecutor of Ukraine and his believed to be hiding in Russia.
