Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated the Air Force soldiers and celebrated them with state awards

The pilots have already made 28,000 combat departments. More than 25,000 Russian air purposes have been destroyed - hundreds of combat aircraft and helicopters, thousands of winged missiles, tens of thousands of drones. “In record time, our warriors have mastered Patriot, SAMP-T, NASAMS, Iris-T and other air defense. And in the sky, our aces pilot F-16 and Mirage. The fact that many recently seemed impossible today is a reality today, ”the President said.

The head of state stressed that thanks to the skill and professionalism of every warrior of Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of lives of our people were saved. The attendees paid a moment of silence to the memory of all the soldiers of the Air Force who gave their lives for the sake of Ukraine and remained in the sky forever. Volodymyr Zelensky passed on to his native Heroes of Ukraine the Order of the Golden Star. The highest state rank is posthumously awarded: Colonel Dmitry Fisher.

1st grade military pilot. He spent more than 1230 hours in the sky. Since 2014, Dmitry Fisher has supported our troops from the sky. With the beginning of a full -scale Russian invasion, he defended Kharkiv region, Zaporizhzhia, and inflicted air strikes on the enemy near the island of Snake and blows on Russia's oil infrastructure. Dmitry Fisher's last departure took place on June 5, 2022. His plane Su-27 was struck by enemy air defense in the sky above the Zaporozhye region. Captain Vadim Moroz.

On the night of February 23 to 24, 2022, he brought his plane from the rocket stroke of the Russians at the airfield. In the first days of a full -scale war he destroyed pontoon bridges, columns of armored vehicles, fuel fillers and crossings of the occupiers in Kherson and Mykolaiv region. On March 3, 2022, he struck a column of invaders of more than 1 thousand pieces of equipment. During this operation, a hostile rocket hit the aircraft Vadim Moroz.

He died, managed to remove the burning machine from the settlement. Major Pavel Ivanov. He quickly mastered four types of aircraft, including the F-16. From the first days of a full -scale war he destroyed enemy equipment, command points, columns of equipment and invaders. He had 422 hours of fighting plaque, in particular in the conditions of active counteraction to air defense and hostile fighters.

This year, Pavel Ivanov made 30 combat departments, during one of which, on April 12, he died in the sky above Sumy region. Volodymyr Zelenskyy also presented the Order of the Golden Star to three heroes of Ukraine in person. The award was given to: Colonel Yevgeny Bankik. Has been defending the sky since 2014. From the beginning of a full -scale Russian invasion, he has organized and planned almost 1300 combat departments.

He personally performed more than 170 departures with the task of point blows and accumulation of invaders. One of the first was the high-precision controlled bombs of the VK-3 near Izium, on the island of Snake, in Shevchenko, Dudchany and Vovcholyar. He personally used more than 180 high -precision aviation weapons, including Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles. Lieutenant Colonel Artem Mironenko. Very quickly mastered the Patriot ZRK.

In January last year he participated in a special operation to destroy the A-50 aircraft and the IL-22 control point in the airspace of the Krasnodar region of the Russian Federation. In August-he managed a air-fighting battle, during which a plane of the Su-34, UAV "Forpost" and "Orion" was destroyed over the territory of Russia and Belgorod. In total, the unit under its command destroyed 177 air goals. Major Denis Yudin.

From the first day of a full -scale invasion, he made 259 combat departments. He inflicted bomb blows on the accumulation of enemy's living power, underground bins and ammunition of invaders in Donetsk and Luhansk, on the enemy's assault rifles in Zaporozhye. He participated in large -scale operations for the liberation of the island of Snake, Kyiv, Kharkiv and the Right Bank of Kherson region.

He inflicted bomb blows on command points, fortifications and infantry in the Kursk and Belgorod regions of the Russian Federation. Also, the Head of State celebrated the Air Force soldiers with the orders of Bohdan Khmelnitsky III degree and orders "for courage" of the II and III degrees.