Odesa journalist Yuriy Dyachenko awarded medal for being wounded in action in Kherson oblast

Odesa journalist and public activist Yuriy Dyachenko, who has been defending Ukraine since the first days of Russia's invasion, first as part of the Territorial Defense Forces, and now in the coastal defense brigade No. 39, was awarded the medal “For Spilling Blood in Battle for the Freedom of Ukraine”.

According to the award regulations, this medal is awarded to service members for wounds received in combat operations where the service member showed remarkable courage and selfless actions in defense of Ukraine. Dyachenko announced the award on Facebook on March 30, 2025.

Earlier, on January 17, 2024, Yuriy Dyachenko was wounded in the leg by an enemy shell dropped from a drone during a battle in Kherson oblast. This was the second injury he had suffered in less than a month: in December 2023, he was diagnosed with acubarotrauma, and in November of the same year, he sustained a shrapnel wound to his hand.

Yuriy Dyachenko. Photo by Yuriy Dyachenko on Facebook

Now Dyachenko is undergoing rehabilitation again for his injuries, one of which was considered severe.

“I feel better, of course. I am undergoing treatment in a health resort. I have not yet been able to fully recover, but I am trying. After the last rehabilitation a year ago, I went back to the frontline and recently, a year after the injury, I was treated and rehabilitated again. My leg has not fully healed, but it is not critical. I am also treating the consequences of several concussions,” Yuriy Dyachenko told the Institute of Mass Information representative in Odesa oblast.

Before the full-scale invasion, Yuriy Dyachenko worked as a journalist at the Center for Public Investigations, was a correspondent for the newspaper Zelenyi Lyst and the news outlet Intent.

Yuriy Dyachenko was awarded the medal “For Spilling Blood in Battle for the Freedom of Ukraine”. Photo by Yuriy Dyachenko on Facebook