The President of Ukraine posthumously awarded the Order of Freedom to the deceased teenagers Tigran Hovhannisyan and Mykyta Khanganov
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed Decree No. 500/2025 on awarding the Order of Freedom to two sixteen-year-old teenagers, Tigran Ohannisyan and Mykyta Khanganov, who were killed in the temporarily occupied Berdyansk of the Zaporizhzhia region on June 24, 2023. Relevant information made public on the website of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
The decree states that the state award is awarded for civic courage, patriotism, selfless defense of the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, as well as for the protection of constitutional rights and human freedoms. The awarding of this order is one of the highest in Ukraine — it is awarded to persons who have made an exceptional contribution to the development of a democratic state.
Tigran Ohannisyan and Mykyta Khanganov remained in their native Berdyansk after the Russian occupation, openly demonstrating a pro-Ukrainian position. Because of this, they were subjected to pressure, persecution and torture. Tigran was abducted from the home where he lived with his grandmother, detained and subjected to torture, including beatings, electric shocks and mock executions. He was arrested by the occupation law enforcement officers. Nikita Khanganov was interrogated together with his father, his home was searched, and then a case was fabricated on the charge of preparing sabotage on the railway. He was threatened with up to twenty years of imprisonment.
Before the tragedy itself, in June 2023, the pressure on teenagers increased. On June 15, the European Parliament demanded an immediate end to the persecution of Tigran and Nikita and called on Russia to allow them to leave the territory controlled by Ukraine. There was no reaction from the occupation authorities.
The boys spent the last days in hiding, and shortly before their death they tried to return home. It was then that they were detained by a Russian investigator accompanied by armed men. After some time, the boys managed to escape, but on June 24, both were killed in the building of the occupation police.
According to representatives of the Russian Federation, the boys allegedly attacked law enforcement officers and were shot dead in a shootout. However, according to Tigran’s mother, half an hour before the news of his death, his son was on the phone – calmly talking on the phone and saying that he was walking with Nikita and thinking about how to celebrate his birthday.
The representative of the occupation administration, Volodymyr Rogov, publicly confirmed the killing of the teenagers, calling them “terrorists” and pointing to “operational liquidation”. Already two days later, on June 26, the head of the Berdyansk city military administration, Victoria Galitsina, confirmed the death of Tigran and Nikita. According to her, the parents were not allowed to see the bodies of the victims.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, described the killing of teenagers as an extrajudicial execution. Ukrainian law enforcement officers opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — violation of the laws and customs of war. However, according to human rights defender Andriy Yakovlev, as of July 2025, the investigation is not progressing.
One of the streets in Zaporizhzhia was renamed in honor of Tigran Ohannisyan and Nikita Khanganov – the former Lassalle Street was divided in half and dedicated to the memory of both boys.
The Order of Freedom is one of the highest state awards of Ukraine. It is awarded to both Ukrainian citizens and foreigners or stateless persons for an exceptional contribution to strengthening the state sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, social cohesion, promotion of democratic principles, carrying out socio-economic and political transformations, as well as for active protection of human and citizen rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.
