President Volodymyr Zelensky has posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy, who was killed in Lviv on August 30.
Other awardees include:
- Hennadiy Afanasyev — an activist against the Russian occupation of Crimea, a political prisoner, journalist, and military member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who died in 2022 near Bilohorivka;
- Stepan Chubenko — a Ukrainian schoolboy tortured and executed by pro-Russian militants in occupied Donetsk in 2014;
- Volodymyr Vakulenko — a Ukrainian poet and children's writer, murdered by Russian forces in May 2022 during the occupation of Izium in the Kharkiv region.
The president shared this news in his address.
«These were extraordinary individuals. They were defenders of the idea of Ukraine, of our independence. Their lives were diverse, and they came from various parts of our country — Lviv, Crimea, Donetsk, Kharkiv. Yet each of them now symbolizes the resilient Ukraine that stood firm against Russia», — wrote the president.
He also noted that since the onset of the full-scale war, the highest title of Hero of Ukraine has been awarded exclusively to soldiers who showed remarkable valor in combat, defending our state, positions, and people. A total of 722 such soldiers have become Heroes of Ukraine, with 445 being posthumous awards.
