• In a decree dated July 11, President Petro Poroshenko granted Ukrainian citizenship to Dr. Ulana Suprun and Marko Suprun. Dr. Suprun and Mr. Suprun were instrumental in providing international-level individual first aid kits (IFAKs) to Ukrainian military officers and training the officers in tactical medicine. The Supruns also participated in the training program for the new Ukrainian Police Patrol Service. The Supruns moved to Ukraine a week after the beginning of the Revolution of Dignity, having visited many times since the early 1990s on various missions. Dr. Suprun volunteered with the medical service and was at the Maidan. As part of the Patriot Defense volunteer project, which the Supruns founded, over 19,000 solders and over 2,999 cadets have completed the tactical medicine training program, and the army has been provided with over 16,500 IFAKs.
Presidential Administration of Ukraine
President Petro Poroshenko presents passports of Ukraine to Dr. Ulana Suprun and Marko Suprun.
• Andrew Fedynsky of Cleveland, received the 2015 Freedom Award presented by the American Nationalities Movement at the annual Captive Nations Dinner on July 16. The award was given in recognition of Mr. Fedynsky’s “magnificent lifetime achievements: …talent as a scribe publishing outstanding articles supporting human rights for freedom loving people” and “exceptional sensitivity and efforts supporting his rich Ukrainian heritage as director of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives and for support of the goals of the Nationalities Movement.”
• A memorial gravestone and plaque for Ukrainian American Markian Paslawsky (“Franko”) was unveiled at Askold’s Grave in Kyiv on August 19, on the one-year anniversary of Mr. Paslawsky’s death. Hundreds of people, including many members of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, came to honor the late Mr. Paslawsky, who was killed in action while serving in a Ukrainian Donbas volunteer battalion near the town of Ilovaysk. Plast Ukraine chief Yaroslav Yurchyshyn and Plast U.S.A. Board of Directors Chair Dr. Christine Kochan posthumously presented Mr. Paslawsky the Iron Plast Cross awarded by the worldwide Conference of Ukrainian Plast Organizations – Plast’s highest honor bestowed on individuals active in the defense of Ukraine. Mr. Paslawsky’s mother, Orysia, received the award.
• On the 24th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, President Petro Poroshenko awarded 14 foreign citizens for their “contribution to strengthening the international authority of Ukraine, popularization of its historical heritage and modern achievements.” Among the honorees were Tamara Olexy, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and Roma Hadzewycz, editor-in-chief of The Ukrainian Weekly. Both women were awarded the Order of Princess Olha, third degree. Ms. Olexy received her award on September 26 in New York.
• Rear Adm. Boris D. Lushniak, deputy surgeon general of the United States, retired from the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps in a full-honors retirement ceremony on September 3 after 27 years of service as an officer. The son of post-World War II Ukrainian immigrants and a dermatologist, preventive medicine specialist and family physician by training, Rear Adm. Lushniak deployed for several national and international missions throughout his career, including Bangladesh, St. Croix, Russia, Kosovo and New York. His most recent deployment was to Liberia, where he was assigned as the commanding officer of the USPHS Commissioned Corps Ebola response, commanding a team of specialized officers who managed and staffed a 25-bed field hospital dedicated to providing care to health care workers infected with Ebola. He was appointed deputy surgeon general in 2010 and acting surgeon general in 2013, serving in that capacity for 18 months, during which time he released the “50th Anniversary of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health” and launched the first “Call to Action to Prevent Skin Cancer.” He served as deputy surgeon general from December 2014 until his retirement.