21 Ukrainians awarded title of National Hero of Ukraine, including well-known fighters, doctors, and volunteers. PHOTOS

First Orders of the National Hero of Ukraine were awarded to 21 great Ukrainians (14 military and seven civilians) yesterday, including soldiers, medics, volunteers and a chaplain.

Not all deeds of Ukrainian heroes have been awarded by the state, so volunteers decided to establish their own National Order to distinguish outstanding people, Censor.NET reports.

The heroes were chosen by the whole country, and silver for the production was collected in 16 countries. Famous Ukrainian boxer Viacheslav Uzelkov donated his Olympic silver medal to the Order.

The first award (posthumously) went to defender of the Donetsk airport, 39-year-old machine gunner of the 90th assault battalion Ihor Branovytskyi, who was publicly executed by Russian terrorist Motorola on Jan. 21. Volunteer Heorhii Tuka presented the Order to the mother of the deceased soldier.

Mother of the deceased Ihor Branovytskyi receives the award of her son

The award of Dmytro Yarosh, leader of the Right Sector who is currently at the frontline, was received by chief medical officer of the Right Sector Volunteer Corpse Yana Zinkevych, who was also awarded the Order of the National Hero of Ukraine. This fragile girl with immense moral courage saved lives of dozens Ukrainian soldiers at the front.

The title of National Hero of Ukraine was posthumously awarded to such legendary figures as commander of the Temur volunteer battalion - Temur Yuldashev; commander of the Dzhokhar Dudayev international peacekeeping battalion, Chechen national Isa Munaev; Captain of the 3rd Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Yurii Butusov, who was killed with a grenade in his hand, covering evacuation of the wounded brothers-in-arms; great patriot of Ukraine, founder and commander of the Kyiv Rus battalion Oleksandr Humeniuk; 28-year-old Captain Maksym Presniakov, the commander of a reconnaissance company of the 93rd mechanized brigade, who died heroically covering a comrade; a talented young doctor Vladyslav Trepko, who saved numerous lives at the front, but was killed by a militants' shell; Segodnya newspaper photographer Serhii Nikolaiev, who accompanies Ukrainian soldiers in the hottest spots of Eastern Ukraine.

The wife and daughter of the deceased National Hero of Ukraine Temur Yuldashev



Mother of the deceased captain of the 3rd Special Forces Regiment Yurii Butusov and Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov (photo by Yaroslav Karpets)

Tragically, these brave men were unable to receive their awards in person, but a mother of one of the dead soldiers said "they are all alive as long as we remember them."

Soldier of the 95th Brigade Serhii Babskyi and volunteer Heorhii Tuka

The orders were also awarded to volunteers and doctors - people who risk their lives feeding, clothing, and equipping our soldiers in the area of combat operations, and one chaplain - Andrii Zelinskyi of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Awards were also given to two organizations - Right Sector Volunteer Corpse and Activist association from the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi.

The history of each person is unique, but they all have one thing in common - dedication and love for Ukraine. Glory to our heroes!

"This is only the first awarding ceremony and they will take place again - in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Lviv, at the front line. It is simply physically impossible to award a large number of people simultaneously, and we indeed have a lot of heroes," project initiator, journalist Andrii Boiechko stated.

Order of the National Hero of Ukraine