Day 72, 18:17

Zelenskyy presented the first battle medals of independent Ukraine, the Cross of Military Merit, which was introduced by a decree of the head of state. The first recipient of the Cross of Military Merit was General Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who, from the beginning of the military aggression by Russia, successfully organized the country's defence and personally demonstrated his heroic resistance to the invasion by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.