Andriy Parubiy posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine

On the occasion of the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, on October 1, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed decrees awarding the title of Hero of Ukraine posthumously to public figures who defended the pro-Ukrainian position. Among them are writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy, Ukrainian soldier and former Russian political prisoner from Crimea Gennadiy Afanasyev, and activist from Kramatorsk Stepan Chubenko.

He announced this in his telegram channel.

The President explained his decision to award the title of Hero of Ukraine to public figures who died without necessarily being career military officers. He noted that on the Day of Defenders of Ukraine and on the Intercession of the Holy Virgin, he departed from the usual rules for awarding this distinction, awarding people who died in battles for Ukraine or for defending their pro-Ukrainian position.

"These were special people. And they were also defenders - defenders of the idea of Ukraine, our independence," Zelensky wrote. He emphasized that these people came from different parts of the country - Lviv, Crimea, Donetsk, Kharkiv - but each of them became "the personification of the kind of Ukraine that managed to show character and stand up to Russia."

In particular, the title of Hero of Ukraine was posthumously awarded to Andriy Parubiy, MP and former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. Parubiy was killed on August 30, 2025, in Lviv. A criminal disguised as a courier opened fire on the politician, firing eight shots. The police detained the suspect on August 31, and on September 2, during a court hearing, he pleaded guilty and is now in custody.

The investigation into the murder of Andriy Parubiy was partially classified: The SBU restricted public access to court decisions, explaining that the disclosure of certain information would "negatively affect the conduct of investigative and procedural actions."

Катерина Глушко