A petition calling for changes to Ukrainian legislation to allow the title of Hero of Ukraine to be awarded to foreign nationals and stateless persons has gathered the required number of signatures.
At the time of publication, 25,099 people had supported the appeal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, exceeding the required threshold of 25,000 signatures.
The petition was initiated by Veranika Yanovich, the widow of Belarusian volunteer Aliaksei Lazarau, who was killed on Jan. 19 while carrying out a combat mission in Ukraine.
She is asking the head of state to initiate legislative amendments that would allow foreign citizens to receive Ukraine’s highest state award for defending the country.
Under current Ukrainian law, the title of Hero of Ukraine may only be awarded to Ukrainian citizens. The only exception allows foreigners to be honoured posthumously for acts of heroism during the Revolution of Dignity.
The petition notes that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, thousands of foreigners have joined Ukraine’s defence. According to publicly available estimates, more than 1,500 of them have been killed. However, they are not eligible to receive Ukraine’s highest state award.
The authors call on Zelenskyy and the Verkhovna Rada to designate the bill as urgent and expedite its adoption. If necessary, the president is urged to use his right of legislative initiative and submit his own draft law.
