Ambassador Volodymyr Ogrysko began his political career in 1978 when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) as an Attaché in the Press Department.
Between 1980 and 1985, he served for three years in the military and also held the post of Third Secretary of the Press. Between 1983 and 1985 he was the Second Secretary of the Press Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR after which he was promoted to First Secretary. Between 1988 and 1991, he was appointed the First Secretary of the Principal Counsellor’s Department. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ambassador Ogrysko worked as a Counsellor of the Principal Counsellor’s Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before becoming Counsellor of the Department of Political Analysis and Coordination at the Ministry.
Between 1992 and 1996, he was a Counsellor in the Embassies of Ukraine in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria. Between 1996 and 1999 he headed the Foreign Policy Department. In 1999 he was awarded the title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Austria. Between 1999 and 2004 he served as Permanent Representative of Ukraine to several international organisations based in Vienna. Between 2004 and 2005 he held the post of Ambassador-at-large at the Department of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, after which he became First Deputy Minister and Acting Minister.
Ambassador Ogrysko served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of Julia Tymoshenko between 2007 and 2009. He then became the First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.