Petition seeks Hero of Ukraine title for journalist Lana Chornohorska

By Yusuf İnan | Wise News Press

KYIV, UKRAINE — A petition asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to posthumously award the title Hero of Ukraine to journalist, artist and UAV operator Lana “Sati” Chornohorska is collecting signatures on the presidential website.

Chornohorska, 26, was killed by a Russian drone on 1 January 2026 while returning from combat positions in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Before joining the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, she worked in journalism, photography, culture and civic activism, building a public identity closely connected with Kharkiv and its independent media community.

A journalist shaped by Ukraine’s cities

Lana Chornohorska was born in Zaporizhzhia on 13 September 1999 and studied in Dnipro. She later lived in Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv, but friends said she regarded Kharkiv as her city and associated much of her professional and personal life with it.

From 2020 to 2021, Chornohorska worked for Liuk, an independent Kharkiv media outlet covering urban life, contemporary culture and the people shaping the city. The Requiem memorial project for fallen journalists describes her as a journalist, photographer, artist, cultural figure and activist. 

Her media and public work focused on the relationship between residents and the cities in which they lived. The presidential petition says she advocated for architectural heritage, accessible public spaces, human rights and barrier-free urban environments. She also participated in discussions about advertising in public areas and residents’ right to influence the development of their city. petition.president.gov.ua

Chornohorska appeared in several Ukrainian media projects and podcasts, including Vona. Viina on Radio Nakypilo, Khtos kohos liubyt on Hromadske Radio and Mezhyrichchia, produced by Liuk.

Her journalism was closely connected with her cultural work. She had studied music, sang, played the ukulele and worked with photography. This combination of reporting, art and civic engagement became an important part of how colleagues and friends remembered her.

Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists subsequently included Chornohorska among media professionals killed while serving in the country’s defence forces. The union identifies her as a journalist and artist from Zaporizhzhia who served as a UAV operator in the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. 

From journalism and volunteering to military service

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Chornohorska became involved in volunteer work. According to the petition, she also completed training in tactical medicine, topography, radio communications and the operation of different unmanned aircraft.

In 2024, she joined the “Udachnyky” unit of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army’s unmanned aviation service. Her call sign, “Sati,” was reportedly inspired by French composer Erik Satie and the atmospheric character of his music.

Chornohorska did not work solely as a drone pilot. Memorial accounts and statements from fellow service members say she participated in the full operational cycle: preparing aircraft, checking software, conducting test flights, keeping records and serving as both pilot and navigator during missions.

The Zaporizhzhia regional memorial records that she underwent her first combat deployment in August 2025. Fellow service members remembered her as disciplined and principled, and as someone able to remain composed during difficult missions. 

During her final months, friends said, Chornohorska began working with larger strike drones. A fellow service member interviewed by Suspilne described her as an effective pilot who also helped prepare drones and carry out technical and engineering work. 

Killed while returning from combat positions

Chornohorska was killed on 1 January 2026 while leaving combat positions in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The Requiem memorial project reported that a Russian Molniya-type attack drone struck the group with which she was travelling. 

The Zaporizhzhia regional memorial states that war reporter Ihnat Ivliev-York was near Chornohorska when the drone exploded. According to the account attributed to him, she sustained fatal injuries in the attack. 

The Ukrainian Volunteer Army’s unmanned aviation service announced her death and described Sati as a devoted fighter, a person of principle and a close friend to those who served alongside her.

The publicly available sources consistently place her death on Ukraine’s southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region. Some operational details remain limited because they concern a combat mission and an active military unit.

Farewells held in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia

A farewell ceremony was held on 6 January 2026 in the main memorial hall at Kyiv’s Baikove Cemetery crematorium.

Suspilne reported that approximately 100 friends, journalists, artists, activists and fellow service members attended the ceremony. Friends remembered Chornohorska’s volunteer work, her connection with Kharkiv and her decision to join the defence forces after concluding that civilian volunteering was no longer enough for her. 

The following day, her body was brought to her native Zaporizhzhia under the city’s “Heroes on the Shield” funeral protocol. Residents gathered along the route of the funeral procession to honour her.

A religious service was held at the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God on Khortytsia Island. Chornohorska was subsequently buried at the Osypenkivske Cemetery, also known as the Right-Bank Cemetery, in Zaporizhzhia. 

The executive committee of the Zaporizhzhia City Council posthumously awarded Chornohorska the municipal “Honour and Glory” distinction. A letter of condolence was also presented to her family on behalf of the city community.

What the presidential petition requests

Petition No. 22/270476-еп was published on 17 September 2026. Its initiator, historian Andrii Boida, asks President Zelenskyy to award Chornohorska the title Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Gold Star posthumously.

Boida states in the petition that he did not know Chornohorska personally. He says he prepared the application using information provided by her fellow service members and material available through open sources.

As of 1 November 2026, the petition had collected approximately 11,000 of the 25,000 signatures required to initiate mandatory presidential consideration. The official portal indicated that 47 days remained in the signature-collection period, although both figures will change as the campaign continues. petition.president.gov.ua

The application’s account of her life and service

The petition presents Chornohorska as a journalist and cultural figure who later transformed her civic commitment into military service.

According to the application, she was born in Zaporizhzhia, worked for the independent Kharkiv outlet Liuk and participated in artistic, cultural and human-rights initiatives. After the full-scale Russian invasion, she volunteered and completed military and UAV training before joining the Ukrainian Volunteer Army in 2024.

The petition says Chornohorska served as a drone pilot and navigator and conducted missions on the Pokrovsk and southern fronts. It also attributes reconnaissance, fire-correction and drone-assisted strike duties to her.

These operational details are presented as the petitioner’s account. Independent media and memorial sources confirm the broader elements of her service, including her work as a UAV pilot, navigator, technician and member of the “Udachnyky” unit.

The application argues that her military service, public work, journalistic integrity and personal sacrifice justify Ukraine’s highest state distinction.

The official petition for Lana Chornohorska remains open for signatures.

Reaching the threshold does not automatically grant the title

Under Ukrainian law, a petition addressed to the president must collect at least 25,000 signatures within no more than three months to qualify for the formal consideration procedure. 

Reaching that threshold does not automatically result in the requested award. It obliges the relevant presidential authorities to begin the consideration process and publish an official response indicating whether the petition is supported.

For Chornohorska’s friends and colleagues, the campaign is also an effort to preserve the full scope of her identity: not only a Ukrainian defender killed in combat, but a journalist who documented urban life, an artist involved in Ukraine’s cultural community and an activist who defended dignity, accessibility and the right of people to be themselves.

Her story also reflects the wider losses suffered by Ukraine’s media community, where reporters, editors, photographers and other media professionals have become civilian victims, been killed while reporting or died after joining the country’s defence forces.

WiseNewsPress.com