 During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29 he was first made the military governor of Kiev, and in January 1829 he was appointed plenipotentiary president of the divans (assemblies) of Moldavia and Valachia under the provisions of the "Organic Statute".He did not win the favour of the Romanian elites, and resigned the office in September the same year.His older brother Sergei Fedorovich Zheltukhin was also a Russian general.