Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented the order For Service, 3rd degree, to a student of the Master’s Program in Non-Profit Management of UCU’s Institute of Leadership and Management, Illya Pylypenko, who is a veteran.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy presents the award to Illya Pylypenko
Pylypenko received two bronze medals at the Invictus Games, one for snowboarding in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2023 and another for wheelchair basketball in Vancouver Whistler, Canada, in 2025.
The decree was published on the site of the President of Ukraine.
“In the morning you go play wheelchair basketball with a team you never saw before and don’t know where they’re from and how they play. You go with one thought: to be satisfied with the game, the process, and to spend a happy day. And in the evening, they award you with a bronze medal.” So wrote Illya Pylypenko on his page. He added that this was the first time in the history of the Invictus Games that a team was awarded medals and this is the first time Ukrainian participants won medals in wheelchair basketball.
Illya Pylypenko after the basketball game, on the left, with the flag of Ukraine
According to the President’s Press Service, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Ukrainian veterans, winners and participants of the Invictus Games and awarded them with medals of state.
“With the unbroken [Invictus- ed.] begins the nation. You well know these important words, not only because this is the official motto of the Invictus Games, and above all, because you are the real, live proof and confirmation of these very words,” said the head of state.
The president presented state honors to winners and participants of the Invictus Games.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Illya Pylypenko worked as a real estate agent, played soccer, and took part in marathons. But February 24, 2022, changed all that. He joined Ukraine’s Armed Forces and participated in the liberation of Kherson from Russian occupiers.
On a combat mission, Illya’s tank hit a mine. The young man escaped the fiery trap with the help of his fellow soldiers. But he received serious burns. The war changed his face, though the war did not break the strength of his will and love of life. The defender took part in a photo session for the project “The Unburned.”
“When I climbed from the tank, my comrades got me. They evacuated fairly quickly. My leg was broken, because during the explosion the armor was breached. I tell everyone that I was born with a shirt on, but the shirt had short sleeves,” said the veteran.
In September 2025, Pylypenko entered UCU’s Master’s Program in Non-Profit Management. He and Arsen Ryaboshapko founded a civic organization for the development of adaptive sports for veterans, Free Soldiers.
We congratulate Illya and all the honorees! We thank our soldiers for their service and the continuing fight!
Invictus Games is an international event in adaptive sports founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, in 2014 for soldiers and veterans who have wounds, trauma, or illness. Ukraine has taken part in the competitions since 2017.
Source: Press Service of the President of Ukraine
