Donetsk, Apr 26 - DAN. Donetsk People’s Republic Head Denis Pushilin has signed Decree No 155 on Tuesday instituting the medal “For Liberation of Mariupol.”
“The new state decoration is awarded to participants in the heroic storm and liberation of the city in the period from February 25 to April 21 2022, as well as to liberation operations planners and leaders,” the document said.
Medal awardees can include DPR militiamen, mobilized persons, State Security Ministry and Interior Ministry officers, Prosecutor’s Office staff, civil officers serving in combat units, Russian servicemen, Russian police officers and Russian Emergency Situations Ministry engineers who helped demine the city.
The medal is made of silver-color metal and has a diameter of 32mm. The face of the medal features the inscription “For Liberation of Mariupol,” a red five-point star, an anchor and two laurel branches; the reverse side carries the date April 21, 2020.
“Our servicemen showed mass heroism during the liberation of Mariupol They literally fought for every house under enemy barrage. At the same time, our fighters evacuated local residents from dangerous places, giving their rations and water to exhausted people,” Pushilin said in comments on the new state decoration.
He said that the liberators - DPR and Russian fighters - played a special humanitarian role, as their top priority was to rescue the city folk from Ukrainian gunmen who treated civilians with particular cruelty.
In Mariupol, the DPR-Russian coalition is currently blocking the surviving Ukrainian nationalists at the Azovstal plant. Clashes in Mariupol streets ended last week.*jk