This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Ukraine

Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (Ukrainian: Леонід Данилович Кýчма) (born August 9, 1938) was the second President of independent Ukraine from July 19, 1994, to January 23, 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival then-President Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma won re-election for another 5-year term in 1999, staying in office until Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration in 2005.

Although his presidency has been surrounded by numerous corruption scandals and the lessening of media freedoms, under his watch the Ukrainian economy grew rapidly, bringing relative prosperity to the large city residents. During his presidency, Ukrainian-Russian ties began to improve.