Zelenskyy was urged to posthumously award Mykola Karpyuk the title of Hero

A petition has been posted on the website of the President of Ukraine calling for the posthumous conferral of the title of Hero of Ukraine and the “Golden Star” Order (posthumously) to Mykola Karpiuk, a civic and political activist, military officer, co-founder of the UNA-UNSO, and former political prisoner of the Kremlin. 

The petition was registered on September 30 at the initiative of Roman Sushchenko and the civil society organization “Platform for the Release of Political Prisoners.” The text emphasizes that Karpiuk paid an extremely high price twice for his devotion to Ukraine—first through years of unlawful imprisonment and torture in a Russian prison, and after his release, with his own life on the front lines.

Mykola Karpiuk was a co-founder and leader of the UNA-UNSO; he participated in the “Ukraine Without Kuchma” campaign, the Orange Revolution, and the Revolution of Dignity. In 2014, he was abducted by Russian special services and unlawfully sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. In September 2019, he returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange; after the start of the full-scale invasion, he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: Official Website of the President of Ukraine

On September 19, Mykola Karpyuk, a former Kremlin political prisoner, civic and political activist, and co-founder of the UNA-UNSO, was killed on the front lines while carrying out a combat mission in the Zaporizhzhia sector. He was 62 years old.

Earlier, Volodymyr Tyrtychny, a serviceman and employee of the media company Starlight Media, was killed in battles against Russian occupiers.

Vitaliy Shtefan, a historian and soldier from Magura, was killed on the front lines.

Earlier, Oleksiy Yukov, head of the “Platsdarm” search and rescue team from Sloviansk, was killed.