Volunteer from Mykolaiv receives Presidential award «Golden Heart»

Khrystyna Dmytrychenko, photo: Instagram/malati_vegan

Mykolaiv-based volunteer Khrystyna Dmytrychenko, a representative of the NGO «Rebel Volunteers», received the «Golden Heart» award from the President of Ukraine.

The website of the President's Office published the relevant decree №880/2025 of 4 December, according to NikVesti.

The decree states that Khrystyna Dmytrychenko was awarded for her significant personal contribution to volunteering and the development of the volunteer movement — from helping the military and civilians to supporting Ukraine's defence efforts in the face of Russian aggression.

«For our team of Rebel Volunteers, awards are absolutely not mandatory. Of course, it is nice and unexpected. But it doesn't matter to us at all. The best rewards are the calls and messages from the military who are now writing to us. The best rewards are the lives saved of our comrades, strangers and friends, and the most important thing for us is their lives there. Our main task on the home front, our duty every day, is to support them there, morally and financially. The main thing is for them to know that they are there for a reason. That's why we work every day for their sake, for the sake of many people, our people Ukrainians, as a nation, as our country, to stay alive,» Khrystyna Dmytrychenko told NikVesti.

She added that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she and her husband started by helping civilians, buying medicines with their own money and savings.

«At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, my husband and I started by helping civilians: medicines, which we bought with all our money and savings (because we were planning a holiday for my birthday in March), and food packages. We bought basic household help and not only that — the first car «Nyva», thermal imagers, first aid kits — for our military friends. It was a crazy start. Every day, every week, we had lists of the DOF — we bought it, shared the list among all active people in the volunteer secret chat in Mykolaiv and sent it all to the DOF centre,» added Khrystyna Dmytrychenko.

Rebel Volunteers team, photo: Instagram/rebel_volunteers

We would like to remind you that among the awardees is also Serhii Sternenko, founder of the Charitable Organisation «Charitable Foundation «Sternenko's Community».