 After an admission to hospital following a heart attack on 27 February 2014, Ilyin was dismissed from the post of Chief of the General Staff by interim President Alexander Turchynov on 28 February 2014.Ilyin was born in Rogachev City, now part of Belarus.In 1979 he graduated from the Suvorov Military School in Minsk and subsequently entered the Frunze Higher Artillery Command Military School in Odessa.