On the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented state awards to warriors and the families of fallen service members.
The Head of State thanked those who are defending Ukraine today and noted that this important day for our state is marked equally by respect and pain, as well as unconditional admiration for Ukrainian defenders.
“Today, we honor the memory of the heroes, the fallen heroes of Ukraine, all our defenders, who have been fighting in the full-scale war since 2022 and in the vile war, hybrid war – Russia’s war against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian people – since 2014,” the President said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that today, the blue-and-yellow flags in cemeteries across the country are a wound in the Ukrainian heart that time will not heal. The Head of State called for carrying the memory and admiration for Ukrainian heroes from generation to generation. Those present observed a minute of silence in honor of the fallen warriors.
“Now, when thousands and thousands of our warriors are defending Ukraine’s position on the front, when our people are saving the lives of Ukrainians following Russian attacks, when we are doing everything to drive this war out of Ukraine and into Russia, primarily through our long-range strikes, we remember that all of this is our active action, all of this is our memory living on,” the President noted.
The Head of State presented the families of fallen Heroes of Ukraine with the Orders of the Golden Star. The highest state title was posthumously awarded to:
Sailor Oleksandr Davydenko. In November–December 2023, in the area of Krynky in the Kherson region, he carried out more than 50 combat missions by boat under enemy fire. He delivered ammunition, medicines and food, and evacuated the wounded. During one of the attacks, he pulled a wounded fellow warrior from the water and carried him two kilometers to the position. On December 31, he successfully carried out a rotation of troops and evacuated wounded brothers-in-arms, but as he was making his way back, an enemy artillery shell exploded near the boat and mortally wounded Oleksandr Davydenko.
Captain Nazar Samchuk. In the Sumy and Donetsk regions, a company of troops under his command conducted reconnaissance and search operations to destroy enemy personnel and equipment. On October 7, 2025, his reconnaissance group captured seven Russian occupiers and seized radio stations, mobile phones, communications codes and maps, creating the conditions to advance one kilometer deeper and liberate the village of Kucheriv Yar in the Donetsk region. That same day, while carrying out a mission, Nazar Samchuk was fatally wounded by an enemy FPV drone strike.
Soldier Dmytro Yehizarov. He commanded an anti-tank guided missile system crew that destroyed heavy Russian equipment in the Donetsk region. On June 20, 2024, he assigned tasks among the fighters and organized the defense during a series of enemy assaults. As a result, two tanks and an infantry fighting vehicle were destroyed, and another tank was damaged. He personally destroyed another infantry fighting vehicle and forced enemy infantry to retreat. Later, Dmytro Yehizarov came under Russian mortar fire while repairing a damaged Stuhna-P anti-tank missile system and was killed as a result.
Captain Pavlo Streliuk. As commander of an airmobile company of the 81st Separate Airmobile Brigade of the Airborne Assault Forces, despite being wounded and under fire from FPV drones, he evacuated a seriously wounded warrior. He led assault groups that destroyed more than 20 occupiers and captured four more. He personally eliminated two invaders and several pieces of enemy equipment. On January 12, 2026, he engaged an enemy assault group, killed one occupier, but sustained a fatal gunshot wound.
Senior Lieutenant Bohdan Usenko. A defender of Mariupol. In March 2022, as commander of a rocket artillery battery, he organized the defense in the area of the Illich Iron and Steel Works. Under his command, four Tigr armored vehicles, five Ural trucks, two infantry fighting vehicles, and around 30 occupiers were destroyed. On April 12 of the same year, he was taken prisoner, where he endured interrogations. His death in captivity came to light following the exchange of the bodies of the fallen warriors on August 19, 2025.
Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Sharaievskyi. From 2022 through December 2025, he carried out combat missions in the Donetsk, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia directions. He planned and coordinated assaults on enemy positions. On December 12 last year, in the area of Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region, he led one of the assault groups, which successfully completed its operational mission, but Oleksandr Sharaievskyi was killed during the rotation after being wounded by an enemy mine.
Senior Lieutenant Serhii Lybenskyi. In June 2025, he led an engineering group and secretly set up a mine ambush for an enemy artillery platoon. On July 14, during an assault, he personally destroyed nearly a squad of occupiers with hand grenades, enabling the capture of an enemy strongpoint. That same day, using an NLAW anti-tank missile system, he destroyed an enemy armored personnel carrier and eliminated 10 invaders. Later, while conducting reconnaissance of the area together with another warrior, he was attacked by an FPV drone. At the last moment, he pushed his brother-in-arms into cover and took the impact himself, sustaining fatal injuries.
Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Drozdetskyi. On March 5, 2025, during an assault on an enemy position in the Donetsk region, he eliminated three occupiers and enabled an advance of 500 meters. On March 9, he led special forces in clearing a tree line occupied by the enemy, being the first to enter the firefight. He killed three invaders and another while clearing a dugout. During the operation, he suffered a concussion but continued moving and, in close combat, eliminated an occupier and enabled the group to advance further. To completely destroy the enemy position, Oleksandr Drozdetskyi threw grenades into it, causing the ammunition to detonate, but sustaining fatal injuries himself.
Chief Sergeant Oleksii Symonenko. On September 25, 2023, during an enemy assault, he personally eliminated five occupiers, saved the life of a wounded fellow warrior, and halted the attack on the position. On November 9, under heavy fire, he broke through to an observation post destroyed by Russian mortar fire, eliminated two invaders, pulled three trapped brothers-in-arms from the rubble, and remained behind to cover their retreat. He was killed in an unequal battle with the enemy.
The President presented the Cross of Military Merit award to the family of fallen Viktor Mamotko.
Chief Sergeant Viktor Mamotko took part in battles in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. On October 25, 2025, he captured an occupier, helping obtain important intelligence. In December, during battles with enemy assault troops, he eliminated nine Russian occupiers, wounded four more and captured one. On January 4, 2026, in the Donetsk region, the enemy attacked his group with mortar fire and FPV drones. Viktor Mamotko sustained fatal injuries.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented the Cross of Military Merit awards to 11 defenders. The recipients were:
Senior Lieutenant Oleksii Vasyliev. During battles in the Donetsk region, he organized countermeasures against mass enemy drone attacks and directed artillery guns at enemy targets. He personally destroyed two FPV drones. While carrying out a combat mission in the Kramatorsk district, he shielded a fellow warrior from an enemy FPV drone strike. Despite severe injuries and the amputation of his hand, he ordered the service members to move to cover and evacuated his brother-in-arms.
Junior Sergeant Andrii Brechka. During battles in the Sumy region, he was wounded repeatedly but refused evacuation and continued carrying out combat missions. He developed tactics for effective camouflage taking into account the features of the terrain, which saved the lives of the unit's personnel. He successfully carried out ambushes against Russian infantry and eliminated seven occupiers, as well as capturing radios, phones, and documents to obtain intelligence.
Captain Artur Mykhalchuk. In May this year, his assault battalion broke through the enemy defenses and seized positions near Oleksandrohrad in the Donetsk region, eliminating around 20 occupiers and destroying an armored fighting vehicle and two automobiles. Developing the offensive, the warriors captured an enemy strongpoint and destroyed more than 20 invaders and two armored fighting vehicles. He coordinated the breakthrough of our forces in another area, during which around 30 occupiers were eliminated, a tank, an armored fighting vehicle, three motorcycles and an ammunition depot were destroyed. In June, he commanded offensives near Voskresenka in the Donetsk region, where nearly 50 enemy personnel, two armored fighting vehicles, four automobiles and two firing positions were destroyed.
Soldier Oleksandr Donets. Since August 2025, together with a brother-in-arms, he held a position near Pokrovsk for 227 days under daily mortar fire and drone attacks. During this time, the warriors destroyed around 50 invaders. Throughout March this year, Oleksandr Donets and his brother-in-arms repelled an average of two enemy assaults every day. On March 18, the defenders destroyed 11 invaders in a single day and forced the enemy to retreat. As a result of a successful rotation, the warriors managed to leave the position in April.
Senior Lieutenant Oleksandr Vorobei. A defender of the Kyiv, Donetsk and Sumy regions. A tactical unmanned aerial vehicle operator, he carried out effective combat flights even under the threat of detection and electronic warfare. He coordinated the actions of other operators in difficult conditions. The unit under his command ensured the destruction of a significant number of enemy strongpoints, mortar positions, command posts and observation posts. Since April 2025, he has been commander of a UAV company that conducts reconnaissance, FPV drone strikes and artillery support.
Senior Lieutenant Yevhenii Dudka. Under his command, the Rugby Team unmanned systems battalion successfully adjusted artillery fire and provided continuous support to assault groups during counteroffensive operations in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. From January through August 2026, around 150 occupiers were eliminated under his command, more than 70 others were wounded, and more than 60 shelters with enemy personnel and around 10 enemy depots were hit and destroyed.
Junior Sergeant Roman Rudyk. A participant in the battles for Avdiivka, Makiivka and Lyman. As a UAV pilot, in June this year in the Donetsk region he destroyed a vehicle carrying a Russian lieutenant colonel. After learning the location where a batch of enemy drones was being transferred, he struck the occupiers' truck. From May 5 through July 22 this year, during combat flights, he eliminated more than 300 occupiers in total and destroyed more than 50 pieces of heavy and light motor vehicles.
Senior Lieutenant Denys Husliakov. A participant in the battles for the Donetsk region. During the defense of Myrnohrad, he eliminated five saboteurs in close combat and destroyed a Russian infantry fighting vehicle. He saved the life of a seriously wounded fighter from a neighboring unit by shooting down an enemy FPV drone on the move, applying a tourniquet, and evacuating the warrior from the strike zone. During a night assault by the enemy's mobile groups on a Ukrainian position, he personally destroyed four motorcycles and 12 invaders using a drone, enabling the stabilization of the front area.
Soldier Artem Kartamyshev. During an enemy assault, he remained at his position despite being wounded. After a mine strike, under enemy fire, he provided medical assistance to two wounded brothers-in-arms and carried them out of the battlefield himself. He eliminated around 10 occupiers, prevented an enemy breakthrough, and held the position. After treatment and rehabilitation, he returned to his unit.
Junior Lieutenant Oleh Bryzhatiuk. The artillery crews and unmanned systems teams under his command this winter destroyed or disabled eight enemy mortars and guns, two tanks, three armored personnel carriers, and two armored vehicles. In addition, the fighters eliminated more than 60 occupiers, two command posts, three field ammunition depots, and seven shelters.
Soldier Pavlo Mykytyshyn. A reconnaissance group under his command eliminated three occupiers and captured one. He provided assistance to wounded fellow warriors and evacuated them. During the battle, he ensured cover for the group and destroyed five enemy drones, but was himself wounded. Despite this, he refused evacuation and, under enemy fire, successfully led all the fighters of the reconnaissance group out of the strike zone.
