This district consisted of Moldavia and five Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa (then spelled Odessa), Mykolaiv, Kherson, Crimea and Zaporizhzhia.

In the 1870s and 1880s (until August 12, 1889) the Commander of the district served as the interim Governor General of Odesa city (then spelled Odessa) concurrently.

The district was reformed by the decision of October 11, 1939 specifically for the occupation of Bessarabia after the Soviet Union signed Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

At that time its territory included the newly created Moldovian SSR, six oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR (Izmail, Odesa (then Odessa), Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad) and also the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the Russian SFSR.

The Odessa MD was reinforced by several units from the Ukrainian Front that took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland and Romania, previously formed on base of the Odessa Army Group of the Kiev Special Military District (reformed Kiev Military District).

By directives OV/583 and OV/584 of the Soviet People's Commissariat of Defense, units of the Odessa Military District, currently commanded by Mjr.

[3] Marshal of the Soviet Union, Giorgi Zhukov was assigned command of the Odessa Military District after the war, far from Moscow and lacking in strategic significance and troops.

In February 1948, Zhukov was moved to another secondary posting, this time command of the Urals Military District.

The Odessa Military District was transferred to the jurisdiction of Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on January 3, 1992 at 18:00.

On 7–8 January each were removed, none resisting because within their headquarters Kravchuk's people had quietly created a network of officers loyal to his government.

Around 1988, the District contained the following forces:[12] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union the 14th Guards Army became entangled in the later War of Transnistria.

Since January 3, 1998 the Odessa Military District was transformed into the Southern Operational Command of the Ukrainian Ground Forces according to the Decree of Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from July 1, 1997.

[citation needed] The command encompasses nine oblasts: Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, and the autonomous republic of Crimea.