Two ethnic Bulgarian soldiers posthumously honored for bravery in Ukraine

Two ethnic Bulgarians from the Bolhrad district of Ukraine have been posthumously awarded the Order for Courage, Third Class. The news was announced on the official website of the Bolhrad District State Administration.

The award ceremony took place in the town of Bolhrad during a working visit to the region by Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper, together with Bolhrad Mayor Serhiy Dimitriev and Stepan Velikov, head of the Krynychne municipality, CE Report quotes BTA.

Alexander Vinogradov from Bolhrad was posthumously awarded the Order for Courage, Third Class. The decoration was presented to his family. Vinogradov, a lieutenant and commander of an unmanned ground systems platoon in the 88th Separate Marine Battalion, was killed on March 15, 2026, while carrying out a combat mission in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Semyon Demirov, from the village of Krynychne, was also posthumously awarded the Order for Courage, Third Class. He served as a marine and grenade launcher operator and was killed on August 15, 2023, in the Donetsk sector.

The Bulgarian community in Ukraine's Odesa region numbers more than 150,000 people and is the third-largest ethnic group in the region, according to Ukraine's most recent official census. Approximately 50,000 to 60,000 ethnic Bulgarians live in the city of Odesa itself. The largest concentrations of ethnic Bulgarians are found in the Bolhrad, Izmail, and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi districts.

Photo: Bolhrad District State Administration