On the day dedicated to the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with soldiers, acknowledging their contributions with state awards and presenting battle flags and ribbons of honorary distinctions to commanders.

The head of state expressed gratitude to the defenders of the skies for their dedicated service. The Ukrainian Air Forces showcased remarkable skills and readiness to face various challenges: fire strikes, air cover, reconnaissance. Pilots have already conducted 28,000 combat sorties, destroying over 25,000 enemy aerial targets, including hundreds of combat aircraft and thousands of drones.

“Our warriors have quickly mastered advanced air defense systems such as Patriot, SAMP-T, NASAMS, and IRIS-T. Our pilots operate F-16s and Mirages, which just recently seemed impossible,” noted the President.

Zelensky emphasized that due to the professionalism of each member of the Air Forces, hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved.

Attendees honored the memory of fallen heroes with a moment of silence.

The President awarded the families of the fallen with posthumous “Golden Star” medals. Among the honored:

Colonel Dmytro Fisher, a first-class military pilot who spent over 1230 hours in the air. Since 2014, he supported our troops from the skies, defending Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, and striking the enemy. His last flight occurred on June 5, 2022, when his aircraft was shot down.

Captain Vadym Moroz destroyed enemy columns of equipment in the early days of the war, but his plane was also hit.

Major Pavlo Ivanov completed 30 combat sorties and died during one of them over Sumy region.

The President also personally awarded “Golden Star” medals to three Heroes of Ukraine.

The head of state recognized the soldiers of the Air Forces with Bogdan Khmelnytskyi orders of the third degree and “For Courage” medals of the second and third degrees.

Additionally, battle flags and honorary ribbons were presented to commanders of various units.