The leadership of the state and the Ministry of Internal Affairs honored the memory of the military and law enforcement officers who died defending Ukraine

29.08.2021 12:39

Today, August 29, the whole country remembers the military and law enforcement officers who fought for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state and in the performance of official duties.

The names of 228 soldiers who died on that day were read today in the memorial hall of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The head of state, along with the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Defense, other government officials and the families of the dead, laid flowers at the Hall of Remembrance of the Fallen Heroes.

President Volodymyr Zelensky presented the defenders' families with state awards.

Subsequently, on Solomenskaya Square in Kyiv, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs honored the memory of law enforcement officers in front of the Memorial to the employees of the internal affairs bodies who died in the performance of official duties.

“It is with deep sadness that we remember our colleagues whose names are engraved on these plates. I would like to say with all my heart that this list should not be replenished. However, unfortunately, the harsh realities are different. Every year, new names appear on the memory boards. During the 30 years of independence of our state, 1,698 law enforcement officers died in the performance of their official duties, 464 of them have died in perpetuity since the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation and the Joint Forces Operation in the east of Ukraine,” the Minister of Internal Affairs said.

Denis Monastyrsky also assured that the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will do everything possible to ensure that the number of dead approaches the figure “zero”. This year, the memorial tables were replenished with the names of four dead law enforcement officers. One of them, the commander of the battalion “Luhansk-1”, police colonel Sergey Gubanov was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine.

Recall that August 22, 2019, by the Presidential Decree of August 29, was officially established as the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine who died in the struggle for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state. At the state level, this day was celebrated for the third time. It was on this day in 2014, during the exit from the encirclement near Ilovaisk Donetsk region, the ATO forces suffered the greatest combat losses as a result of the direct invasion of the territory of Ukraine by enemy, Russian troops. From the beginning of the offensive on the city from August 10, 2014 to the beginning of the breakthrough with the “boiler” on the morning of August 29, 2014, 366 defenders were killed, 429 were wounded, 128 were captured, 158 were missing. Newly formed units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took an active part in the operation together with the Armed Forces: volunteer battalions of the National Guard and militia: “Donbas”, “Azov”, “Dnipro-1", “Mirotvorets”, “Svityaz”, “Kherson”, “Ivano” Frankivsk and Shakhtarsk.