Zelensky proposes national pantheon for Ukraine's heroes

WorldPolitics
29 Jun 2026 • 9:21 AM MYT
DPA International
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Image from: Zelensky proposes national pantheon for Ukraine's heroes
FILE PHOTO - Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's President, speaks at the 62nd Munich Security Conference. (is associated with: «Zelensky proposes national pantheon for Ukraine's heroes») Sven Hoppe/dpa

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a bill to parliament to establish a national pantheon honouring the country's heroes.

"Today, I submitted to parliament a law on the Ukrainian National Pantheon," Zelensky said on Sunday in an address marking Constitution Day.

"The names of all the heroes who, across different centuries and eras, fought for Ukraine and inspired Ukraine will be brought together and forever inscribed in our history," the president said.

"Nobody will ever again dictate to Ukrainians which heroes they should honour, which holidays they should observe or which history they should learn," added Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelensky's presidential office.

"Our ancestors fought for centuries for this right to free self-determination and national independence, and that is exactly what our soldiers are shedding their blood for today," Budanov said.

The reference to self-determination was also seen as a swipe at neighbouring Poland, whose president, Karol Nawrocki, had revoked a high-ranking order awarded to Zelensky amid a dispute over history.

The memorial site is to be built in Kiev.

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