“For personal courage and heroism, displayed while performing combat and special tasks, adherence to the oath of allegiance, I decree to award with the “Golden Star” Order of Hero of Ukraine (posthumously) to Colonel Verkhohliad Mykola Yakovych,” reads the Decree of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

Mykola Verkhohliad, a veteran of military intelligence of Ukraine, stood at the origins of peacekeeping activity of our state. In the early 90s, he commanded the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent in muslim enclave Zhepa during the war in Bosnia.

Intelligence officer-veteran will always remain in the history of Europe as one of the key figures in dramatic events of the summer of 1995 when the Ukrainian servicemen stopped the most large-scale genocide since the Second World War.