Zelenskyy grants Hero of Ukraine award to Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Kyrylo Budanov

Kyiv, Ukraine (Svidomi) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded the title of Heroes of Ukraine to former Commander-in-Сhief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi and the head of the Defence intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov.

The award of Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Gold Star is the highest state award of Ukraine, bestowed upon citizens of Ukraine for outstanding heroic deeds or exceptional laboгr achievements.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi served as the Commander-in-Сhief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until February 8. He was appointed to this position in 2021, several months before the full-scale invasion.

In 2014, Valerii Zaluzhnyi graduated from the Ivan Chernyakhovsky National Defense University of Ukraine as the top graduate of the operational-strategic level training program, and was awarded the Queen's Transitional Sword of Great Britain. Prior to that, he studied at the Odesa Institute of Land Forces and the National Academy of Defense of Ukraine.

From 2009 to 2012, Valerii Zaluzhnyi took the command over  the 51st Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2017, he became the Chief of Staff —  the First Deputy Commander of the troops of the Operational Command "West," and in 2018, he was appointed as the Chief of the Joint Operational Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the First Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces. On December 9, 2019, he was appointed as the Commander of the Operational Command “North.”

Valerii Zaluzhnyi also holds a civilian education — he graduated from one of Ukraine's oldest universities, The National University of Ostroh Academy, specializing in “international relations.”

On May 23, 2022, Zaluzhnyi was included in the list of the 100 most influential people of 2022 according to Time magazine.

There is information about Kyrylo Budanov that he studied at the Odesa Institute of the Ground Forces and served in special forces units. Since 2014, he has been involved in the Russian-Ukrainian war, where he suffered three injuries. In 2016, Budanov participated in a special operation during which Ukrainian intelligence officers infiltrated temporarily occupied Crimea.